May I Have This Dance
by kathey'ssis
Summary: the continuation of 'Where Do I Begin', the continuing story of John and Elise as they work through the aftermath of Elise's accident and continue to build their life together.
1. Chapter 1

Finally here it is, the sequel to 'Where Do I Begin', at least the first chapter. Thank you to everyone who gave me the time to deal with a professional issue of finishing up my next manuscript for publication. I'm sorry that I also needed time to deal with a family crisis. Alas it feels good to be writing again I hope this is worth the wait for you readers.

If you haven't read the first one you should read it first it will spoil this part of the story if I have to retell everything I'm referring to.

As always I do not own any rights to the characters of Emergency, they belong to someone else this is just for entertainment I make nothing on it. I only hope what I write is worth reading to someone.

**May I Have This Dance**

Johnny gradually became aware of the light coming through the drapes as he took in a deep breath to start the waking process. His arms were still around Elise's waist as he held her close to him. Skin to skin they were as one flesh, just as he had always pictured it should be like to be married to the one, the perfect one.

Trying hard not to move as he became more awake John was quick to remember that with Elise's health she still needed more sleep than he did.

As John worked his eyes open to once again take in the sight of his beautiful bride he once again relived the second wedding that had been held in Captain Stanley's back yard. It was everything he ever hoped for and so very much more than he ever dreamed possible in his life.

Carefully John looked at the bedside clock to see that there were still a few hours before they would have to check out of the Bridal suite and head for home. This was the morning after the second night after their second wedding. The first wedding being before a judge at the court house had been dubbed as a legal merger with no hint of romance by Captain Stanley who along with his wife responded to the plea for witnesses just three hours before the wedding. John had to agree especially with Elise's family there objecting as loudly as the judge would allow, trying to stop the marriage from being finalized. It didn't help any that Elise was facing a pacemaker implant and without it her heart would often jump into an irregular rhythm skipping beats and leaving her confused or worse.

The implant surgery had been scheduled for two days later but after an auto accident, just two blocks from the station after John had introduced her to his crewmates, it had to be performed the very next day. John could still feel the anger as he remembered Elise's brother in law trying to stop her from getting the life saving procedure. Thank heavens Elise had foreseen his efforts and placed in Captain Stanley's care, copies of the papers he would need to prove his power of attorney and their marital status.

Fighting the urge to lightly drag his fingers across Elise's stomach John once again remembered there was still a major surgery ahead of them. Still imbedded under her skull was a chunk of her protective helmet waiting to be removed before the doctors could clear out a large blood clot, repair an aneurism and then rebuild an inner ear to reduce the frequent attacks of vertigo as well as restore her ability to maintain her balance better. The doctors held great optimism that they could do so with minimal increased damage to her brain but there was little hope of completely stopping the seizures that occurred nearly daily. Even under the best possible outcome Elise would never be able to go back to the work of a rescue worker, nor was there much of chance of her ever working as an emergency room nurse again.

John could only slightly imagine what his wife was feeling in regards to her future but since their marriage the two of them had taken on the live for today attitude and did whatever they could to make the most of each and every day.

The last forty eight hours Elise had done nothing during her waking hours but completely cater to his every whim and physical desires. She had long ago proven that she had mastered the art of a back rub since their first wedding night she had mastered everything else.

Now as John lay awake at her side he also remembered the weeks before, when he was off shift she was at his side, as if being with him and doing things with him were the only happiness she could ever want. When he was on duty however John was very aware that her efforts were being spent getting her affairs in order in preparation for whatever the outcome of the next surgery would be.

Once more John looked at the bedside clock, as much as he wanted to let Elise sleep in his arms there were medications to be taken and she was already over due. Gently he ran his fingers up the length of her arm and moved in to kiss her shoulder and continued to kiss until he had reached her neck.

Elise responded by turning into him and capturing his lips in hers. When they both needed to come up for air John spoke, "Time for your meds."

Elise sighed in resignation and nod her head, the last thing she wanted to do was mar their first real honeymoon with a seizure. By the time John returned to the bedside with a handful of pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other Elise was sitting at the side of the bed and as the meds were transferred to her hand she tossed them all in her mouth and with a few gulps of water swallowed them down all at once. She then dutifully finished off the glass of water and set the glass aside before starting to run her hands over John's bare chest.

When they had finally packed up their luggage John was stacking it near the door when her heard a thud behind him and turned to see Elise on the floor jerking and shaking. Well practiced in how to deal with her seizures now, John quickly pulled the furniture out of the way to help make sure that she didn't hurt herself before kneeling at her side and continuing to count the time the seizure lasted. As was happening more and more lately the seizure lasted long enough that Johnny had to inject some anti seizure medications into her arm and he was then able to slip a bite block between her teeth. She had bit her lip good this time and would need a stitch or two.

When the bell boy arrived for the luggage he was panicked by the sight before him. "Do you need me to call an ambulance?"

"No," John assured him in a calm voice. "It was just one of her seizures, it's under control now. I just need my car brought to the front and I can get her to the hospital myself."

Still panicked, the bell boy loaded the luggage on his cart with reckless speed then called ahead to make sure John's car was ready. John then scooped Elise into his arms making sure her sedated head was resting comfortably on his shoulder and under his chin as he followed the young man to the elevator.

"In my jacket pocket is your tip and that for the valet," John talked as the elevator worked its way down to the main floor. "Would you please get it and see to it that the Valet get's his share?"

"Yes sir," the young man then hesitantly pulled a couple of ten dollar bills from John's pocket, "This is very generous sir."

"You deserve it," John answered as he continued to hold the sleeping Elise as if her body had no weight at all.

The bell hop nearly ran through the lobby and John was relieved to see his car parked in the drive in front of the doors. He instructed the valet to recline the passenger seat then tenderly lay Elise in the seat and buckled her in before checking her pulse one more time. Good and strong just as her heart beat should be, the pacemaker was doing its job.

John noticed the bell hop handing one ten dollar bill to the valet and then accepted the keys and made his way around the Rover and behind the steering wheel.

When John arrived at Rampart he once again scooped Elise into his arms and tucked her head comfortably on his shoulder before he carried her through the doors. Betty was quick with a gurney at his side but John just looked at it and then asked which room.

Dr. Early met them in the hall way and followed them into the treatment room listening to Johnny calmly explain what happened and what he had administered to control the seizures. He slowly and tenderly lowered Elise to the treatment table then stepped back but remained in the room as Dr. Early started checking Elise out and soon let out a sigh.

"It looks like it's just one of her seizures," the Doctor reported, "I don't think there's been any more damage done."

John let out a small sigh and nod his head, he had to agree, "This new medication they have her on seems to reduce the frequency of the seizures but when they happen their worse and last longer."

"Have you told her neurologist that?" Dr. Early inquired.

"I mentioned it the last time I went with her," John reported as he moved in and took Elise's hand in his. "He said that he was afraid to do any more tinkering with her meds until they did the surgery. He explained that some of the drugs he could prescribe could put her at risk for more complications."

"I have to agree with him, have they set a date for the surgery yet."

"A week from tomorrow," John answered, "They need to wean her off the blood thinners first and because of the heart damage they want to do it very slowly."

"Well Johnny you've done everything right as usual, all that's left for me to do is to stitch up that lip and monitor her till she wakes up."

John sat on a stool at his wife's side and rubbed her hand as Dr. Early stitched up her lip, quickly raising her hand to his lips at any hint of a movement on her part. When he was done Dr. Early checked her vitals and pupils again before turning to John.

"She should sleep for another hour or two; you should go to the cafeteria and get something to eat while you're waiting."

"NO, I'm fine right here," John threw a faint crooked smile to the good doctor, "We had a late breakfast. Do you think you'll need to keep her overnight or will I be able to take her home when she wakes up?"

"She'll probably be able to go home as long as your there," Dr. Early smiled. "But I'll make that call for sure once she wakes up."

Author's apology: sorry this chapter has taken so long in coming, it was worked up on as many as four different computers with different word processing programs and then e-mailed to myself for latter compilation much more complicated and time consuming than just typing it up on my own computer once and then sending it off to my beta. Here it is and the next chapter will likely be coming forth in a more timely fashion. At least I sure hope so.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

John remained at Elise's side as she slept off the anti seizure drugs. She was just starting to show signs of waking up when Dixie came in to check her vital signs.

After pulling the stethoscope out of her ears Dixie shared a smile with Johnny. "Did you two enjoy yourselves?"

John blushed and smiled, "Yeah, we were just setting the luggage out for the bell hop when she started to seize."

"You're due back on shift in the morning aren't you?"

"Yeah,"

"Who's on watch for Elise?"

"JoAnne," Johnny responded feeling grateful that he no longer needed to take his wife to a nursing home to be able to go to work.

"Her sister, Aunt and Uncle are visiting till after the surgery. we're going to open all our wedding gifts tonight and then they are going to keep Eess busy writing thank you notes for a couple of days." John sighed with relief that there was a plan in place.

"It won't be long now and all this will be behind you." Dixie tried to comfort.

"I can only hope so." Elise answered in a drugged slur showing that she was waking up and could hear what was being said.

"We have to stay positive" John encouraged as he moved in for a kiss.

Elise tenderly placed her hand at the side of John's face and lifted her own head for a second and more passionate kiss to be interrupted when Dr. Early walked through the door.

"It looks like we're waking up in here." Dr. Early smiled; he was only one of many who had been drawn in to Elise's struggles, and one of the slightly smaller number who had noticed the change this girl had made to one, once confirmed bachelor, paramedic. "Let's give you a looking over shall we."

Dr. Early moved in and started looking over Dixie's shoulder at the notes and new vitals before giving Elise's lip a good looking at and then the inside of her mouth.

"Well young lady you sure did a number on your mouth this time, you're going to have to work on soft food for a few days while things heal up." Dr. Early then stood up and turned his attention more to Johnny but also made an effort to make sure Elise knew he was talking to her too. "I've had a talk with Dr. Morrison, and we both agree that it would be best not to change your anti-seizure medications this close to your surgery but we also agree that there is some indication that increasing the dosage for the time being may be a good idea."

He pulled a prescription pad from his pocket and tore off the top paper handing it to Johnny. "As soon and John get's this filled I'll let him take you home."

Everyone one in the room mirrored Dr. Early's smile as Elise started to sit up and orient herself with John and Dixie's help.

"I'll disconnect her IV and get her ready to go while you go pick up her meds." Dixie offered with a smile and John gave Elise a quick peck on the lips before moving toward the door on his way to the pharmacy.

Dr. Early followed John out and Dixie helped Elise to sit up before raising the back of the bed to support her in that position.

"Johnny tells me the two of you had a wonderful couple of days," Dixie spoke as she worked to discontinue the IV. She wanted to keep the small talk positive in an effort to keep Elise from focusing on the seizure.

"Dix," Elise spoke and Dixie looked up to find her looking around to make sure they were alone. "Am I doing right by John?"

Dixie paused to choose her words carefully, "Elise, I have known that young man much longer than I've known you. I've watched him for years as he fawned over every new nurse that was ever hired in the hospital and I've watched his world crumble when those nurses would come to the conclusion that he wasn't someone they wanted to spend time with. And then I've watched him since you've come into his life. I have never seen him more calm and yet so excited in all the time I've known him. You my dear are his completion, his other half, all of his missing pieces. So to answer your question, yes, you are doing right by him. More right than I ever dreamed any girl ever would."

But am I doing the right things so that he'll be able to move on if things don't work out well with the surgery?" Elise probed for more.

"Now Elise you shouldn't even think that way," Dixie chastised as she held pressure on the IV site after pulling the needle, "you need to keep a positive attitude."

Dixie sighed at the look Elise gave to her, taking in a deep breath in thought, somehow she really understood this woman who had been carried unconscious into their lives. As happy as she made John, she had to be a wonderful person. Still her fears were well founded and couldn't be ignored.

"You know there are a lot of nurses around here who wouldn't give John the time of day before your two got married. Now they're watching John with you and seeing how happy he makes you and they're kicking themselves for not giving him more of a chance. I dare say that if something were to happen to you that they would all be lining up for his attention.

"And as far as Johnny goes, you have shown him the greatest happiness I think he has ever known. He'll morn you for a while of course he will but all of his friends both in the fire department and here at the hospital will be there for him. With our encouragement I'm sure in time he'll want to move on and find that happiness again."

Dixie looked into a face of tear filled eyes and a warm smile."John deserves so much more than I can give him." Elise reveled genuinely deep feelings.

"Don't sell yourself so short, you have given that man everything you have in you and held nothing back. I think in a strange way your health is a special gift between the two of you. Since you both love each other so much and want nothing more than each other's happiness. Well you both realize that there may not be tomorrow so look at each day as a gift and celebrate each one with each other."

Dixie's next act was to open a box of tissues and hand three to Elise to wipe her eyes and blow her nose.

Dixie swallowed a little and took in a deep breath to keep her emotions under control and then turned back to Elise. "Now you wouldn't by any chance have a brother you could introduce me to would you?"

Elise smiled, "Nope, only daughters were born to my family no sons. My father was quick to try and set us girls up but given his track record and his choice in men, in my opinion you're lucky he's dead."

When John returned with Elise's meds He was quick to take her in his arms, "Hey, what's with the tears. We're on our honeymoon."

"I just can't get over the feeling that I'm the luckiest women in the world and I feel so grateful that all these silly nurses around here were too blind to see how wonderful you are, before I was hit upside the head and brought to my senses," Elise answered.

"I just needed to wait for you to save your small part of the world first." John smiled, "It taught me to appreciate you more." John then scooped Elise into his arms and gently settled her in the wheel chair he had brought back with him. "Now what do you say we go home and open some wedding gifts?"

When Johnny drove into the equipment bay at the home station he found his new niece and nephew eagerly waiting in a section of the bay that had been established as a safe place when the big bay doors were open.

As soon as John got out of the rover he smiled and waved the children toward Elise and took his time to get around the car making sure they all arrived at the same time. Before John helped Elise from the car he lifted Cody into Elise's lap to give her a hug. After the hug he lifted the little girl back down and offered to lift Tobes but he was capable of hugging Elise from his position on the floor, so he turned down the offer and just stretched out his arms for Elise to lean into.

After hugs were given the children stepped out of the way and let John help Elise to her feet. Then arm and arm they followed their noses into the kitchen where a meal fit for kings and queens was just going on the table. John and Elise were sat at the head of the table with two eager children on either side of them.

No one said a thing about Elise's stitched lip accept to hand her an ice pack for it and ask if she needed her vegetables cooked a little longer so that they'd be softer.

After dinner John and Elise sat together on the love seat while the children kept them supplied with gifts to open. Sitting on the longer sofa Rachel and Elise's Aunt, Clara Blackhorse recorded what was given and from whom.

Several items meant for kitchen use had to be explained to John but he was impressed. Although he didn't say anything, John noticed the small number of gifts from his fellow paramedics and firemen but he kept his observation to himself. He just figured they were still surprised by his marriage and waiting to hear through the grapevine what was needed before getting a gift. He himself usually gave Roy money at times like this and JoAnne would pick out the gift.

After all the gifts were opened and duplicates were sorted out, with the plan of exchanging them later, for something they could use. John then guided Elise to the master bedroom and handed her, her medications before tucking her in for the night, and he lay at her side with his arm around her waist until he thought she was asleep then quietly slipped out onto the back deck area to sit on a bench and look at the stars.

He had just let out a deep relaxing breath when he was startled by the sound of footsteps behind him. John turned his head with a start to see Uncle Milton walking up behind him and quickly rose to his feet in a show of respect for the man he knew held a high position on the Tribal Council.

"Sit," Uncle Milton spoke a gentle command, and Johnny obeyed watching as the older man took a seat on the opposite end of the bench.

"I want to thank you for allowing my wife and I to stay in your home and remain until the surgery," Uncle Milton spoke.

"You're always welcome in our home," John was quick and genuine to respond, "Elise has told me many stories of how you and your wife raised her after her mother passed away and all the things you taught her. You are very special to her."

Uncle Milton looked straight ahead for a moment and then turned to look at John, "Elise's sisters have told anyone who would listen that you are a man a-kin to a jackal, one who is as evil as the day is long."

John didn't know how to respond so he made no comment, just looked to the ground at his feet.

"The way I see things anyone who can get that kind of a rise from those women can't be all bad." When John looked up into the face of Milton Blackhorse he saw a lot of white teeth reflecting the starlight back at him and sighed in relief.

"I don't think I've ever seen that girl as happy as she is now and given the trouble she has yet to go through and the way you've stood up against her, know-it-all brother-in-laws, I think you must be a man of honor and great character."

"Thank you sir," John responded letting the darkness hide his reddening face. "All I can do is give you my word that I love her more than I can find words for and I only want her to be as happy as she can."

"I must admit that the life her sisters were convinced, was in her best interest wasn't much of a life, but the way it's been explained to me this surgery is quite a risk with no real assurances what the outcome will be. I don't have any rights to information but I'd sure like it if someone could fill me in on some of the details."

John gave one of his crooked smiles and then took a deep breath, "I'm not nearly as qualified to explain everything to you as the doctors and I don't have the fancy charts they do, but I do have an anatomy book and I'd be happy to explain things the best I can." John then led Uncle Milton past the locker where his books had been stored and from there to the entry area where they could have plenty of light without interrupting anyone else's sleep. The two men sat down where they could both see the books and talked for some time about the procedure that lay ahead for Elise.

"So," Uncle Milton prepared to phrase his understanding of what John had told him, in an effort to make sure he was understanding properly. "If nothing is done, she will die, and won't have much of a life while she's waiting for that to happen, but if they operate there are risks to the surgery and she might die but there is a chance they can repair the blood vessel thing that's been damaged in her brain and she will live a long much more fulfilling life?"

"That's a simplified explanation yes," John responded watching Milton's facial expressions carefully.

"But if that vessel bleeds and they can't control it there could be more damage to the brain and she could lose any number of abilities or even die in the operating room?"

"Yeah," John confirmed.

"And even with the best possible outcome she may still have seizures but likely not as often or as bad?"

"That's right, we're hoping for better but there are no guarantees what the outcome will be," John confirmed once again still not sure what the man he had been talking to would want him to do.

Then Uncle Milton leaned back in his chair and blew out a deep breath before looking at John.

"In my youth they would have been talking about just smashing her head in the rest of the way with a rock and being done with it. I like these options better. There are still chances that she will be handicapped but she deserves a chance for the best possible outcome." Uncle Milton again took in a deep breath and blew it out. "Thank you for explaining all of this to me, I can now see that the surgery is the only choice for our Elise. The other choice is no way to honor the life she has led and the great person she has become."

Uncle Milton looked around the room as he sorted out his thoughts, when he noticed the note pad sitting next to the phone in the corner he remembered something and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.

"I forgot to tell you, there was a woman here last night wanting to talk with you and Elise. Something about a Dance in the garage out there." Uncle Milton handed over the piece of paper that held a name and phone number, the first name was unreadable but the last name was clearly McConnike, "She didn't seem to believe me when I told her you weren't here."

John let out a deep breath of exasperation and shook his head, he then looked at his watch, "Well I'm not calling her back this late, I'm sure the chief will be waiting for me at the station when my shift starts in the morning."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

John stared at the piece of paper in his hand and remembered Mrs. McConnike's little temper tantrum at the Chowder cook off when she learned the fire station was now private property. He was not ready to host a major party nor was Elise in any condition to do so nor was she expected to be for some time.

"Well I should be getting to bed," Johnny excused himself from his newly acquired uncle, "I have to report for duty in the morning."

"How are we supposed to take care of Elise while you're gone," Uncle Milton walked out into the bay with him talking as they walked.

"JoAnne DeSoto will be here in the morning," John answered with a calming smile. "She's one of the women who have been trained to watch Elise while I'm at work. She has two children who are out of school for a couple of days so she'll probably bring them with her to play with Cody and Tobes, and I'm sure you'll all get along fine. She was one of the ones who planned the reception and is already planning to help with thank you notes and other post reception stuff."

"Then what is there for me to do?" Uncle Milton asked and Johnny could quickly see that writing thank you notes was not something he wanted to do. "If you'll tell me where your posts are I can get them planted while you're at work."

John stopped and looked at the new Uncle and one of only a few of Elise's family that approved of him. Silently he pondered how to say what was on his mind hoping that Uncle Milton would understand and not be offended.

"I really appreciate your offer, but I'd rather you not do that, see that's one of the things Elise and I are doing together. We only get two to four posts planted a day when I'm off duty but it helps take her mind off the surgery that's coming. I don't plan to get any horses until Elise is recovered because I want to spend the time with her and won't have time to train them so there's no hurry. Once she's gone to surgery you can do them if you'd like." John hesitated to say more holding his breath as he watched Uncle Milton's reaction.

"Do you understand?" Johnny finally broke the silence.

"And to think her sisters claim you are only after her money." Milton spoke with a catch in his voice. "You must love her very much to go through the frustration of taking that long to plant a simple fence post and to let her help you knowing it helps her to do so."

A tear slipped down his cheek as he looked at John, "I will not take from you the pleasure of my niece's companionship. I'm sure there is something for an old man like me to do around this place while the women do women's things."

John sighed in relief that the man understood then thought a moment. "There are a few things you can do. There's the pond that needs to be inspected to make sure the banks are sound and water samples need to be collected to test and see if it's good to plant fish, and I could schedule the delivery of the straw for the barn if someone was here to receive it. I don't want Elise to be the one because she'll try to unload it and she shouldn't be doing that much work."

"I can do all of those things while you're gone," Uncle Milton smiled.

"I'll find out from Elise where the paperwork is before I leave in the morning and leave it for you on the table." John added and then he went to bed to find Elise awake and waiting for him.

-0-

John arrived at work the next morning with a large box of Indian fry bread covered with sugar and cinnamon that Elise's aunt Clara had made. He had nibbled on one while he drove in and knew where Elise had learned how to make it.

When he drove into the parking lot he noticed the chief's car was there and revisited the conversation he and Elise had once he came to bed. She told him that it was his house so it was up to him but that if it would do him any good with the higher ups to host this dance go for it and she'd do the best she could to help in any way she could.

John was so excited that she was talking of things she would do after the surgery he was almost willing to agree to it just to give her something to look forward to. But now that he'd slept on it he knew that it was just too much to ask of her after surgery so they would have to look elsewhere. Maybe next year.

After setting the box of fry bread on the kitchen table he headed to the locker room to change into his uniform. When John opened his locker, he found it full of wrapped gifts and had to move fast to keep one from hitting the floor when it fell out.

"I sure hope this isn't fragile," John commented to the chuckles of his friends.

"It must have been the last shift that put them in there, the only thing I know of is the envelope on the top shelf." Mike added with a smile on his face while he was bouncing on his toes. "Sorry we didn't give it to you at the reception but it wasn't ready yet."

The anxious looks from his crewmates was enough to prompt John to sit down and open the large envelope as he looked up often to see the looks on his crewmates' faces. Inside he found a large card congratulating him on his marriage. Inside were some folded papers and the card was signed by Chet, Mike, Marco, and Cap along with twenty other firefighters from throughout the response area. Being prompted by the smiles and a few hand gestures, John unfolded the papers to find a bill of sale for a Yearling Horse of his choice at a very reputable horse breeder in the valley.

"Oh Wow guys, Wow, Thanks, you shouldn't have." John exclaimed as he studied the papers.

"They said they wouldn't be rounded up and ready to look at for another month or so and if you weren't ready to take the horse then you could pick it out and they'd keep it until you wife had recovered from her surgery," Marco was quick to add, "You already told us that you wouldn't have time for a horse until she was on her feet again."

"This is really great guys, I don't know what to say, , , thank you." Johnny smiled with excitement then checked his watch and quickly turned to get into his uniform, needing to remove several of the gifts to be able to get to his uniforms.

Once he was dressed Chet and Marco helped him move the gifts to his truck and lock them in the back and when they returned to the station he found Captain Stanley and Chief McConnike waiting for him.

"Sir," Johnny began to speak, "About your wife wanting to hold a dance at my place-"

"We'll talk about that a little later," Chief McConnike interrupted John. "Right now I would like you to come with us."

The chief started through the door to the equipment bay and Captain Stanley motioned for John to follow him before falling in behind to bring up the rear.

In the equipment bay behind the engine was found Eleven Paramedics, standing at attention, eight of them in uniform, Roy among them.

With confusion on his face John looked to Roy and then his captain for an explanation but he was sat down on the running board and then the Chief began to speak.

"Your fellow paramedics have come together, under the direction of your partner Roy DeSoto and collaborated with headquarters to give you a wedding gift that they feel you need the most." The Chief spoke, "Now since DeSoto is in charge of things here I'm going to let him tell you about it."

The Chief stepped back and Roy took one step forward. "We know that since you're combining two households that there wasn't a lot of things you need but we also know that with the upcoming surgery that your wife is going to need and the recovery time involved that you're vacation time isn't going to cover it all so we've worked things out with headquarters to volunteer time and see to it that you're shifts are covered, and with all those who have signed up so far you are covered for 28 shifts to be with your wife and help her get back on her feet."

John's mouth hung open but no words came out, in stunned shock he looked at his Captain, his Chief, and then his partner, then the tears began to flow."

"Thank you," John finally responded in tears and after wiping his eyes with his hands he stepped forward and shook his partners hand and accepted a hug before he walked down the line up and shook the hands of every one there.

"Not all of those who have volunteered to cover your shifts were able to be here today but they're all listed on this official Department leave application." Roy added as John neared the last paramedic in line.

"This way you'll still have some vacation time to do something fun we hope," Dwyer from the outgoing shift commented as he shook John's hand, "I think we surprised you almost as much as you surprised us."

"Yeah," John managed to get out before adding, "Thank you guys, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"You were one of the guys to stepped up to cover so I could help care for my father before he died of cancer last year," McGuire spoke next, "I hope with everything I have that you'll have a different outcome but I also think I understand what this means to you."

"Thanks guys, all of you." John spoke again before taking the paperwork from Roy's hands and looking over the list of men who had signed up. There was little more he was able to say.

"Well guys," Chief McConnike took control once again, "four of you have two squad parked outside waiting to be taken back to your stations and I believe the rest of you should be heading home to get some much needed rest. John, your needed in the office to sign some papers to finalize this momentous gesture."

"Thanks again guys," John got out as the line up broke up and everyone started going in their separate directions as he followed Captain Stanley's lead to the office with Chief McConnike bringing up the rear this time.

In the office Hank sat at the desk were papers were already waiting for information and a signature. He asked when Elise's surgery was scheduled and clarified his new address before signing the paper then turning it for John to add his signature.

Hank then found something he needed to do outside of the office leaving John and the Chief alone.

"About my Wife." Chief McConnike spoke with some hesitation, "She asked me to talk with you and if she asks before I talk with her you are to tell her that we talked and decided that with your wife's surgery coming up that agreeing to a party at your house is out of the question at present."

John sighed in relief and nod his head up and down with emphasis, "Thank you sir."

"I regret to inform you however that she may very well approach you again about this as soon as your wife is out of surgery," Chief McConnike added with a grimace, "I can only hope that she'll wait until she is released from the hospital."

"Thank you Sir." John answered, "For everything you've done."

It turned out to be a busy shift leaving John little time to think about much of anything but he still managed to say thank you another couple of thousand times or so throughout the day.

When he was off shift Uncle Milton helped as John and Elise worked to get the fence posts in and somehow managed to not get them all done since there was another couple of days that John would be home to work with Elise to finish the job. Everything would be ready to string the wire while Elise was in the hospital. The report on the water quality was back too and looked good. Elise would spend some time while John was on shift next ordering the fish to plant in the pond.

When John reported for his next shift he was assigned to the Captain's office as soon as roll call was over. There Cap talked with him for half an hour to make sure he was not consumed with his wife's surgery and would be able to keep his head in the game while he worked.

John was finally released in time to help Roy finish counting the supplies and they were just loading the boxes back in the compartments when Cap stepped out of his office once again.

"John, you've got a visitor," Hank called out and John quickly shut the compartment doors and stepped to the front of the engine to see who was making a visit.

Captain Stanley stepped to the side of the doorway and from behind him hobbled a man struggling to walk with the aid of a cane that had four feet on it that were covered with tennis balls. His body was bent to one side and his left arm hung limp and useless at his side as he held tight to the cane with his right hand. The man's face looked distorted as he smiled but only one side of his mouth rose and one eye drooped seriously.

"You m-must . . . . J-John G-gage?" the man spoke in broken speech showing that it was as difficult for him to talk as it was for him to walk. "Do you Know . . . .wh. . . I am?"

"Brandon," John spoke hesitantly, "Brandon Walker, Elise's sister Joanie's husband." John revealed that he knew who his guest was and with the pronouncement that he was a brother-in-law the rest of the men in the station began to gather around John in a protective stance.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Brandon didn't miss the protective moves of the rest of John's crew mates nor was he surprised by them.

"I, I, I know y-y-you, don't care for in-laws, and right-rightfully so, b-but since you could easily t-t-take me w-with both hands t-t-tied behind y-y-your b-back, yu-you might all-allow m-me talk to y-y-you?"

"I don't know," Chet stepped forward and slightly in front of John, "Seems to me you could do a lot of damage with that cane you're carrying."

With that statement, Brandon unceremoniously handed his cane to Captain Stanley who was standing at his side. He then took a stutter step forward and lost his balance, saved from falling to the floor by a quick grab from Captain Stanley.

John just moved Chet to the side and stepped forward taking Brandon's arm with one hand and the cane, in Captain Stanley's hand, in his other.

"We'll be in the kitchen, I'll holler if I need help." Johnny stated as he gestured in the direction to go, then let Brandon choose his own pace and footing.

Once in the kitchen Johnny helped Brandon into a chair and then looked over his shoulder to see both Chet and Mike taking up a guard position on either side of the door.

"Would you like something to drink a cup of coffee maybe," Johnny offered.

"N-N," Brandon finished his word with a shake of his head and Johnny understanding sat down around the corner of the table from him not at all sure what to expect from this man.

As soon as Johnny sat down Brandon patted the top and side of his head gently, "n-n, horns."

Johnny smirked, "na, had to have them sawed off to become a fire fighter, their against department policy, won't fit in the helmets."

Brandon let out a strangled laugh, and then lifted his limp hand onto the table with his other hand before placing the other at its side, "You love lise?"

"Yes," John answered without hesitation, slightly surprised that he didn't feel threatened by these questions. "I've loved Elise for some time now but she had her work to do in Montana and I had my work here."

Brandon nodded his head and Johnny thought he was trying to smile but with his facial deformities it was hard to tell.

Brandon pointed at his head as he tried to speak again, "peration right thing?" he asked and Johnny noticed that when he didn't fight to pronounce all the words properly he didn't stutter as much. There was a part of him that felt as if he should be correcting this man and encouraging him to improve his abilities, but for the moment he chose to accept the communication at hand.

"It is for Elise," Johnny answered, "it's the only thing that will give her the best possible life ahead. It is what she wants, that's why she came to California, and I do support her in her wishes."

"Wha if like me? Still love lise?"

Johnny looked at the table top and took a deep breath choosing complete honesty with his brother-in-law who may very well be the one to help him understand Elise more than anyone even the Doctors or Elise herself.

"I can't even imagine Elise with your level of disability, we'll have to take it one day at a time, but yes I will still love Elise even if she is worse than you are. I fear I may not be able to take care of her myself, but I cannot see anything that will come in the way of the love I feel for her now."

"What I am afraid of is that if she has your level of disability . . . I'm afraid that she'll leave me."

John let out, not even sure himself why he was sharing this information. "She's already written it into her living will that if she's left in a coma with no hope for recovery; our marriage is to be dissolved so that I can move on with my life. If she has as much ability as you do I'm sure she'll leave, and right now . . . I don't know what to do if she does. Do I let her go and hope that she comes back to me or do I go after her and beg her to come back? Right now I really hope that the surgery improves her life and that I can in some way fill in the rest so that she can be completely happy."

Brandon remained silent for a moment looking John over through slightly squinted eyes and John was wondering why on earth he said the things he did.

"If tries leave, tell me. Tell her what she tell me. She stay." Brandon got out in his broken speech that Johnny still had to listen hard to understand. Not sure what to make of Brandon's last statement John sat and listened to the silence between the two men.

"Docto help?" Brandon struggled with his words for a brief moment before pointing to himself to get his point across.

"I have no idea Brandon," Johnny shook his head trying to remember how many years it had been since Brandon had sustained his brain injury. Then the thought occurred to him that perhaps he would have been able to be helped if he had seen a specialist back when he was injured and Johnny was more determined to see Elise through the surgery she had fought to get.

"I can introduce you to one of Elise's Doctors and the two of you can talk about any possibilities." Johnny offered, "Do you by any chance have your medical records with you?"

"Son bring," Brandon offered then twisted his head in a way that reminded John of a hawk eyeing over its pray before it attacked.

"Sisters come?" Brandon asked.

Johnny somehow knew this was the whole reason for this visit; Brandon had come, in an attempt to gain passage for Elise's sisters. But had they accepted Elise's wishes?

"Are they coming to try and talk Elise out of the surgery?"

Brandon didn't speak but he bobbed his head back and forth and to the best of his ability, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Then the answer is no." John stated climbing to his feet and speaking in a tone to imply there was no chance of him changing his mind. "Elise fought beyond all odds just to survive and then had to fight with all she had to get away from that institution her sisters put her in and all the drugs Greg pumped into her. I'm not letting them upset her, not this close to surgery, in fact not ever. If they can't learn to accept Elise's choices they might as well expect to never see her again. And if I ever find out Greg or Tom even leave Montana I will have them arrested."

With John's raised voice Chet and Mike stepped into the doorway with Roy and Marco behind them, looking over their shoulders. John noticed and waved them off and sat back down.

"Do you still want me to introduce you to Elise's doctors?" John was still trying to figure the man before him out. Did he really have hope of an improvement in his abilities, was he trying to use this opportunity to determine for himself if this surgery was right for Elise, was there some other reason or all of the above. John could only guess but he didn't see any harm in setting up a visit with Dr. Early.

That was when the guards at the door parted allowing passage for Captain Stanley and another guest, a young man about nineteen years of age by John's guess.

"John you have another visitor," Cap announced.

"Well actually I'm just here to get him," the young man pointed to Brandon still seated at the table.

"You must be the son he said was bringing his medical records?" John stood and faced the young man offering a hand to shake, "I'm John Gage, I have no doubt that you've heard of me."

The young man hesitantly accepted John's hand and was still holding it when he looked up into his face, showing a little surprise on his. "Well he doesn't have any horns."

"Saw off, no fit helmet," Brandon answered with the same strangled laugh he used when John said it.

"Are you Jacob or John," John received yet another surprised look from the young man's face once his father had controlled his laughter.

"Elise has told me about her family," John responded to the unasked question, "She's extremely proud of you and your brother and everything you've done to help your parents since your father's accident."

"I'm Jacob, Johnny's my younger brother. He'll be coming out with Mom in a few days." Jacob unknowingly let the cat out of the bag.

John turned his attention to Brandon who still sat at the table and gave him the glare of a lifetime. John then hung his head and let out a deep breath of resolve before turning his attention back to Jacob.

"Your father asked me to set up an appointment with one of Elise's doctors, to see if there was anything that could be done to help him. I was just about to go do that, you do have his medical records with you?"

"There's something in that suitcase, but I'm not sure what all is in there." Jacob answered and it was apparent to John that this was no surprise to Jacob."

"Can you tell me for sure when your father's accident was?" John asked. After a date was given John excused himself, to go to the office and use the phone there, instead of the phone that was right by the door in the kitchen.

Hank followed his medic and stood by silently, listening to the conversation between John and Dr. Early. When the call was disconnected John sat with the handset still in his hand as he blew out another deep breath.

"Everything alright?" Hank asked and then grew worried when John didn't answer or even turn to look at him.

It wasn't until John had taken in and let out another deep deliberate breath that he looked at his superior and friend and sighed. "I don't think so Cap, he came here to ask permission for Elise's sisters to visit with her. He also admitted that they are going to try and talk her out of the surgery again. His son just informed me that they are on their way."

"So you think he's serious about getting medical treatment himself?" Cap questioned.

"At least a second opinion," John responded. "But I also think he's trying to determine for himself what kind of doctors Elise has."

"There's no harm in that is there?"

John looked at his captain and it was clear that what he said, was just what John needed to hear at the moment.

"No, there's no harm in letting him talk with Dr. Early, who knows they just might be able to help him."

John finally hung the phone up and turned more completely to face his captain. "Do you think I should let the sisters try and talk Elise out of the surgery?"

There was a moment of silence as Hank took his turn to take in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "Do you think they might succeed?"

John looked at some spot on the wall behind Hank and froze silently for a moment then he turned his full attention back to his trusted friend. "No, she knows the risks and the possible benefits. Elise is a nurse; she knows every detail of the procedure ahead of her, even though she is preparing for the worse she is actually eager to get it over with. These seizures are getting worse as each day moves on. I'm afraid she won't hold on much longer if she doesn't have the surgery."

"Then you tell me, is there any harm in her sisters trying to talk her out of it?" Hank chose the question to answer a question approach.

"That depends on how far their willing to go to change her mind," John renewed his attention to his captain. "They've already drugged her and put her in an institution against her will. I don't want her upset."

"There's only so much of that you can prevent in anyone's life, are you prepared to come between her and her family?"

John looked away and rubbed his chin and the area under his nose, as he thought, "I'm not totally sure about that Cap." John then leaned forward and placed his elbows on his thighs, as he rested his head in his hands. After a moment of thought he looked back to his advisor.

"You think it would be a good idea for me to talk to them alone first, to find out what their intentions are, before I let them see Elise?"

"Might not be a bad idea," Hank answered.

"Well," John got to his feet, "Dr. Early is just about to get off, he said to send Brandon right over and he'd have a talk with him to see if there is anything that can be done to help him."

"Under the circumstances, I'll allow you to take him in the squad. Roy said you needed to pick up some supplies anyway." Cap authorized and John looked behind him to see his partner and friend standing in the doorway to the office.

"Thanks cap, I'm sure Jacob doesn't know his way around that well, being from out of town."

Brandon was aided into the middle of the squad, between the two paramedics, and Jacob was advised to follow the squad. Once they were at Rampart, Brandon was helped into the emergency department. Then when John had proved he had everything under control, Roy moved ahead to get the needed supplies, while John walked slowly aside his brother-in-law.

"Tell the sister's to talk to me first and we'll see from there," John told Brandon, just before they walked the last few feet toward Dr. Early and Dr. Bracket, who were both watching every move Brandon made, as the first part of their examination.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Roy watched as his partner steadied the man who had invaded their lair. Dr. Early had motioned toward Dr. Brackett's office and that was where they were heading, when Jacob joined them with a suitcase in his hand and took over steadying his father in John's stead.

John stopped before entering the office and the door closed with him standing outside. He stood there looking at the closed door. After a couple of breathy sighs John joined his partner in time to count out the supplies then was quick to pick them up and head for the squad.

Before they got back to the station they were toned out on the first of three rapid fire calls. None of them were life threatening. The worst of the three was a possible broken arm on a girl, who had wrecked her bike after a neighbor's dog, ran in her direction. The paramedics hadn't been required to ride to the hospital with any of them.

As they neared the station, Roy was very aware that his partner hadn't said a word outside of what was needed to perform his job. "Is this round two with the in-laws?" Roy tried to get some conversation going.

"Only round two," John smirked after taking several long seconds to respond, "I thought for sure we were up to at least round ten by now." The two paramedics shared a slight smile, and then Roy turned his attention to backing the squad into position. Once the engine was turned off neither man moved from the cab and Captain Stanley, sensing the two men were having a much needed conversation, signaled for the rest of the men to stay away from the squad.

"Brandon asked, 'if I'd still love Elise if she ended up like him.'" John started to talk, then he placed his tongue to the back of his teeth and took a couple of quick breaths as his eyes filled to the brim, but didn't spill over. "I can't even bring myself to think of Elise like that. . . . . What if this surgery doesn't work? What if it makes her worse instead of better?"

There was silence as Roy thought his words through carefully, sensing John yet had more to say.

"Remember that Guy who had a fight with his wife and left only to return two days later to find her long dead?" John continued just as Roy suspected he would.

"You mean the one who held us at knife point demanding we do something for her and Rampart had us taking vitals, on both arms, while we waited for the police to sneak in behind him?" Roy clarified knowing full well that was the run John was thinking of. He had known, even at the time, that John was seeing Elise in the place of the dead woman they were being asked to revive. He was also sure John was seeing, a part of himself in the man declaring he just needed some time away from his wife.

"Yeah, that's the one." John responded, as he stared silently at something in the area of the glove box, that only he could see. "What if, when all is said and done, Elise doesn't get better or worse, is more disabled than she is now? How do I keep from becoming that guy? How do I keep from becoming just like that guy?"

Continuing to take a moment, to choose his words carefully, Roy placed a hand on John's shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze.

"I think you being worried about it, is the biggest reason it will never happen." Roy paused, to let what he had said sink in and to think of something more to say, that was hopefully as profound as what he'd said before.

"This is the kind of thing they talk about when they say, 'we'll cross that bridge when we get to it'." Roy started to dispel what he hoped was wisdom. "The most important thing you can do right now, is to be positive going into this surgery. Elise's attitude, is the only thing you can influence, that will have any kind of a bearing on the outcome of all of this. Continue to make the most of each day, like you have done so far and Johnny, I promise you this, if things don't go well, you will be surrounded by friends to help you every way we can. And if what you're afraid of most does happen, you will be glad that you had this time together and that you spent it making each other as happy as you could possibly be."

There was another pause as Roy watched John dealing with his emotions.

"We'll all be there for you. Through the good, the bad, the hard, and the easy, that's what friends do, and your friends are not going to let you down."

When the two paramedics walked into the kitchen, they were met with the concerned gazes of four devoted friends. When John sat down, still deep in thought about what Roy had told him, it wasn't long before each of the men had come over, and in some way, touched the troubled man to let him know, they cared.

The day was steady as far as runs went nothing real serious. However, they didn't spend much time at the station, as Cap had assigned the two men the heavier load of inspections, to keep them busy and John's mind off things at home.

Twice, when John and Roy were at Rampart bringing in patients, they noticed Jacob waiting for his father. John stopped to talk to him just long enough to learn that they were running some tests.

After a run with a possible heart attack, the two paramedics found their way into the doctor's lounge for a cup of coffee and found Dr. Early sitting at one of the tables looking over some medical reports, while drinking his cup of coffee.

Cautiously, John sat down at the table, across from Dr. Early and quickly glanced at the records, to make sure they were Brandon's medical reports he was going over.

"John, you know I can't discuss this patient's medical information with you without his consent." Dr Early closed the file as he spoke, anticipating John's question.

"Just tell me this Doc." John pushed just a little, "Does Brandon have damage that could have been prevented if he'd had specialized care when the injury happened?"

"He was treated by a specialist," Dr Early turned a surprised eye toward Johnny, "Didn't you know that? A neurosurgeon was flown in from Helena, with staff and equipment to do the first surgery the morning after the accident and then when he was stabilized, he was flown to Helena for two more surgeries and other treatment."

John sat stunned, as he listened to Dr. Early, "I'm surprised you didn't know. According to the records I've been reading, Elise was an assisting nurse on the flight to Helena."

John sat there, not drinking his coffee, as rage began to boil inside of him. If that kind of accommodations could be made for Brandon, then why didn't they do the same for Elise? John wanted to know. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure, Greg was responsible. But what about the doctor's? Why didn't someone in that Podunk town, make the same effort for Elise, so she could have got the medical treatment that she needed?

-0-

Roy was well aware that John didn't sleep at all that night at the station, every time Roy was awake for any reason he could see John lying in his bunk, his hands on his chest with his fingers moving from being intertwined or dancing about and his eyes wide open.

When the wake up tones sounded, Roy pulled his feet out of bed and set them on the floor, watching as his partner did the same, in an automatic form of motion. Once John had made his way to the latrine, Roy cornered the captain for a private conversation and a strong recommendation that this be the last shift John work before Elise's surgery.

-0-

When John pulled off the road at home station, his mind was on the meeting he had had with his captain before he left. Cap had called him into the office. As soon as the door was closed, John asked to speak first.

"Cap I'm wondering if I could use some of that, leave time the other paramedics gave me. With Elise's family coming to town, to try and talk her out of the surgery, I don't want to leave her alone."

"Well pal, that's the reason I asked to speak with you, I called you in here, to suggest you do just that."

They had three days, before Elise was to report to the hospital. And John was planning, in his mind, how he was going to tell Elise about Brandon and her sisters impending visit. He knew he couldn't keep it from her and wanted to do what was right.

Not wanting to wake Elise, if she was sleeping, John chose not to open the bay door, instead he chose to pull around back and park by the stables, that's when he saw the horse trailer and knew Elise had been shopping again. It looked to be second hand but it was in excellent condition.

Without asking, John knew Elise had had her uncle Milton look it over good before paying for it. After checking the stables and making sure there were no horses inside, John headed for the station house. As he let himself in he was quickly jumped by Roy's two children.

"We got to sleep in a real fire station last night." Jennifer exclaimed and from the look on JoAnne's face he suspected one of two things, either they really didn't sleep at the real fire station last night or Elise had a bad night. John was hoping for an over excited Jennifer being responsible for JoAnne's exhausted look.

"But we didn't get woke up by a fire call, so it doesn't really count as a real station." Chris added to his sister's excitement with a very disappointed tone."

A quiet knock on the door alerted John to Roy's arrival and as the children repeated their excitement and disappointment for their father, John slipped out of the kitchen and into the master bedroom, where Elise was just waking up.

John lay down on the bed next to his wife with his arm around her and watched as she worked her eyes open and stretched to meet her new day.

Elise started by placing her hand on his and then working her way up to his shoulder as she snuggled in tight to him. "Morning," she offered.

"Morning," John smiled warmly as their eyes locked onto each other.

"Bad shift?" Elise questioned and John knew she could see right through him.

"No," John pulled her close for a kiss then leaned up on his elbow, "Brandon came to see me yesterday."

"Brandon? Brandon who?"

"Joanie's Brandon," John clarified and watched as Elise's eyes flew open wide before she sat up in bed looking down at John in stunned surprise.

"Joanie's Brandon?" She looked to John for the confirmation in his eyes. "How did he get here?"

"He flew in, Jacob was with him, chauffeuring him around in a rental car." John held onto Elise's hand and toyed with her fingers as he talked.

"What did he say to you? Was he mean?" Elise questioned fearing the reason her husband looked down.

"No, he was civil, checked my head over for horns; of course it's hard for him to talk so not a whole lot was said." John rolled onto his back but kept Elise's hand in his. "He asked if I loved you, and if I'd still love you if you were like him." John made sure Elise's eyes were locked with his again. "The answer to both of those questions is yes, instantly and after thinking about it all night. I know I'd love you no matter what."

John was still holding on to Elise's hand but reached up with his other hand and started to rub her arm as Elise melted against his chest. John continued to rub and could feel moisture dripping onto his chest.

"He asked me if your doctors could help him," John gave a thoughtful pause, "I told him I had no way of knowing that. However, I did help him set up an appointment with Dr. Early."

Elise rose up on her elbow again and looked down at John. "What did Dr. Early say? Are they going to be able to help him?"

"Dr. Early wouldn't talk the case over with me," John responded watching Elise with every word he said. "I asked him point blank if Brandon had damage that could have been prevented if he'd been treated in a bigger hospital. He told me they had a neurosurgeon flown in to do surgery the morning after the accident and then once he was stabilized, he was flown to Helena for more surgery and treatment."

"Yeah," Elise confirmed, as she positioned a pillow against the head board and leaned back. "I had made some connections when I took my Advanced Live Support training and Dr. Williams was willing to give the specialist a call. He flew right down in his own plane. There was bleeding into Brandon's brain that had to be stopped. Brandon has a little arthritis in his knees and one shoulder so he was constantly taking aspirin, so there was a bit of a clotting issue because of it."

John remained on his back and looking up at Elise for the next question. "So why didn't they call the same guy in for you?"

Elise looked at John and started running her fingers through his hair. "I have no idea, I don't remember much of the first two or three weeks. Just having a tube down my throat and fighting the respirator mostly. I remember being frustrated, because no one was talking to me, just about me. Not being able to open my eyes, feeling like they were swollen shut, and a constant headache from hell. I heard them say 'there was no chance for me', maybe that's why they didn't call in a specialist, I don't really know.

"I remember Travis's parents bursting into ICU, that was nearly a week after the accident. That was when they took me to surgery to try and pull the helmet parts out from around my heart."

It was nearly four weeks after the accident before I was able to talk to them, I asked to be taken to Helena for further treatment and was told that 'I was too unstable to transport.' The next thing I remember was being in the long term care wing of the hospital there. I knew if I was going to get the medical help I needed, I'd have to see to it myself. When Rachel snuck in to see me she helped me get out of there and drove me to the airport in Helena, and you know the rest of the story."

John smiled as he sat up and pulled in tight to Elise resting his head on her pillow with their heads touching. John let out a deep breath and spoke again. "There's more, Brandon asked if your sisters could come and see you. He didn't ask right out, but when I asked if they were going to try and talk you out of the surgery, he just bobbed his head up and down and then sort of shrugged his shoulder. I told him, 'no', that I didn't want them to upset you. But then later, when Jacob came to pick Brandon up, he let it slip that his mother and brother were already on their way and should be here in a day or two. I'm betting they've got company."

"Yeah," Elise responded in frustration, "Why do I have to be constantly fighting them on this. Don't they realize I need to get that stuff out of my head before I will be able to move on—."

Elise paused and her face looked as if she had just realized something.

"It's because of Brandon." Elise turned troubled eyes to her husband, "They still think it was the surgery that caused his partial paralysis. Why can't they believe me and the doctors when we told them that he was bleeding into the brain and if we hadn't have done the surgery, he never would have woke up and probably would have died?"

Elise closed her eyes and rested her head back on her pillow as she let out a breath of exasperation. Then her eyes flew open again and she sat up strait looking at John. "There's nothing they can do to stop this right? You're not going to let them talk you out of signing the permission form for me to go through with the surgery?"

John sat up next to Elise and but his arms around her. "I promise you, I will see to it that you get this surgery, and I also promise you that whatever happens afterward, I'll be there to help you through it." John moved in for a quick kiss then held Elise's head in his hands as he locked eyes with hers. "NO regrets, no second thoughts, just the purest love I've ever known in my life. We're in this together." John emphasized the word together.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

JoAnne quietly tapped on the bedroom door, then responded to the quiet "Come in". When she stepped into the room she noticed Elise caressing the side of Johnny's face and alternately sweeping the hair away from his forehead as he eyes were loosing his battle to stay awake.

"Everything's taken care of so they can't hurt us anymore," Elise spoke softly as John's eyes closed and his breathing slowed into peacefulness. "Everything is going to be alright."

Elise looked at JoAnne and with a flick of her eyes, indicated the blanket on the chair next to the bed and JoAnne picked it up and together the two women covered John. Then Elise placed a couple of pillows next to him, to take her place, before she slipped out of bed. Pulling a robe on followed JoAnne in the kitchen where Roy was helping to gather up the children's things.

"She got him to sleep," JoAnne announced and Roy let out a sigh.

"So, this visit from Brandon was rough hu?" Elise questioned her husband's partner.

"He said some things that got him thinking, but I think he's more worried about your sisters coming," Roy reveled.

Elise sighed and sat at the table. "Well now that I've been declared mentally competent to make my own decisions the only thing they can do now is talk until their blue in the face," Elise responded.

"I've always thought my sister's looked good in blue."

JoAnne smirked at Elise's joke and was still laughing when she sat in the chair next to her. "Now don't you have some tests at the hospital today?" JoAnne asked letting it show that she was somewhat nervous about leaving Elise with John sleeping.

"Not till later this afternoon," Elise answered, "Their just some fresh MRI's to take to surgery. John should be able to get about three hours sleep before we need to get ready to go." She then turned to Roy, "John said that he's not working now until after the surgery, is that true?"

"Yeah," Roy confirmed then quickly added, "But the crew is going to be at the hospital as soon as we get off the day of your surgery so that we can be there for him."

Elise let out a sigh, "I really appreciate the gift you organized for John," she looked straight at Roy, "You have no idea how worried I've been about him being distracted at work and getting injured because of it." "You will make sure he eats won't you? You probably know better than I do how must food it takes to keep him going."

"We'll see to it that he eats, we'll probably turn the waiting room in to a pot luck smorgasbord," Roy smiled feeling comforted that John's wife was worried about him too.

Elise got up and left the room returning with money in her hand. "Here take this to use, Just make sure he gets plenty to eat and that he leaves the hospital to sleep, The surgery is expected to take between eight and twelve hours, depending on how hard it is to repair the aneurism. Then they intend to keep me in a medically induced coma for at least three to four days after that. Please don't let him stay at the hospital night and day. I've asked him not to spend any more than four hours a day there while I'm out of it but he won't agree to that."

"Well, I'm not sure how much we can do, but me and the guys will give it our best," Roy committed, "I'm sure Dix and Doctors Bracket and Early will help in that regard."

Roy left taking his excited children home while his wife did some shopping at the farmers market. By the time she was home Roy had reported to his captain that Elise had managed to get John to sleep and tell him about Elise's requests for while she was in the hospital.

-0-

Later that afternoon, John drove Elise to Rampart, where they headed straight to the Radiology department, for all the x-rays and scans the Doctors wanted before the surgery. Once Elise was taken back John made his way to the waiting room, where he noticed Jacob, Joanie and another boy John was sure was Johnny.

"I tell you mom he was nothing like I expected. John Gage was really a nice guy and the way he took care of Dad and saw to it that he was introduced to the doctor." Jacob was talking to his mother and since Brandon was no where to be seen, John was sure he was having his own radiological tests run. "I think you and your sisters are making a big deal out of nothing." Jacob concluded.

"Uh hum," John cleared his throat and leaned against the wall near the door. Jacob was the first to turn and look at him but Joanie was quick to notice him also.

"What brings you here?" Joanie questioned in a less than pleasant voice.

"My wife is having some tests done down the hall," John answered fighting hard not to return her tone of voice. "I'm waiting for her to be done. I assume you're waiting for the same with Brandon. Are the doctors telling him they can help him?"

Joanie said nothing but Jacob looked back and forth between his mother and John at least twice before he spoke up. "They said there's a new therapy they can try, it's still experimental and they don't know for sure if it will help, but there's nothing that will do any more harm. It's a kind of electrical stimulation to help get his nerve endings excited and then teaching other parts of his brain to step up and do what the damaged areas can't anymore."

John noticed the evil stare that Joanie was still giving him but chose to say nothing. He just nod his head to acknowledge what Jacob had said.

"So you're John Gage," the other boy stated as he stepped forward and offered his hand, "I'm Johnny Walker, Elise's nephew. I've heard a lot about you."

John smiled, his patented crocked smile, and shook the offered hand. "I have a hunch that's an understatement."

John leaned back against the wall and looked at Joanie. "So where are your aunts?" John asked turning back to Johnny.

"They're in the cafeteria getting something to eat. They'll be back in a little while; as soon as my dad's done we were going to go over to your house."

John raised an eye brow, "I didn't know you knew where my house was."

"It's in the phone book," young Johnny smiled as if he had outsmarted everyone, "in an apartment building not too far from here."

"Actually," Johnny gave a sly look towards his sister-in-law, and then turned back to the young man who was being very nice to him, "I don't live there anymore. Elise gave me a rather unusual house, with some land for horses as a wedding gift. We moved shortly after she got out of the hospital the first time."

"OH," Johnny responded uncertainly.

"So you are going to make us go through you to see our sister." Joanie nearly growled as she rose to her feet and started to move toward John.

"I wouldn't be much of a husband if I just let you harass her now would I?" John answered.

"We're her family," Joanie nearly roared in his face.

"So am I," John responded refusing to meet her raised voice or return her anger, "And as far as the courts go as well as my stand on things, a husband trumps siblings."

"Errr," Joanie shook her fists in rage then turned her back on John and returned to her seat. The boys looked back at him several times in sympathy, but Joanie refused to look in his direction or to say another word.

The waiting room was in an L shape area with one wall made of glass. When John noticed a seat opening up around the corner from his sister-in-law he took it and tried to interest himself with a magazine while he waited but the upcoming confrontation was foremost on his mind. John even wondered if he should ask the receptionist to alert security.

Watching the reflections in the glass wall, John noticed that the other two sisters had returned from the cafeteria and although he couldn't tell what they were saying he could hear the whispering sounds from their direction and even his name once or twice.

After nearly an hour Brandon was wheeled into the waiting room in a wheelchair as he was pushed toward his family, John heard the orderly telling everyone that the results of his tests would be sent to his doctor, before his next appointment and then watched the reflections in the glass to see what they would do next.

He noticed that they looked in his direction several time as they talked amongst themselves and then Brandon pushed himself out of the wheelchair, with great difficulty, and with his sons steadying him made his way in John's direction.

"Lise here?" Brandon asked as soon as he was close to John and John noticed that his wife and her two sisters had followed him as far as the corner of the wall behind him but no closer.

"Yes, Elise is here, um, getting some tests run before Monday." John answered but his attention was on the women behind the man talking to him.

"We wait?" Brandon asked again, taking a moment to look back at his angry wife and her sisters.

John nod his head, still keeping the women in his sights, "Yeah, you can wait, but I don't want Elise upset, if it comes to it, I will take her out of here and call security."

Brandon turned to the women a good six feet behind him, "Hear that?"

"Yeah, we heard," Vanessa sighed.

Brandon then pointed to an empty seat near where John had been sitting, "Sit here?"

"It's alright with me," John answered feeling that Brandon was trying his hardest to mend the rift between him and Elise's sisters. But John had to wonder why? Wasn't his accident part of the reason Joanie had a big problem with him and anyone of his heritage?

John watched as Jacob and Johnny helped their father into a seat than motioned for them to sit down next to him before he took a seat himself. The sisters remained standing for a moment.

"How long do you think she'll be," Patricia asked from her standing position.

John looked at his watch then at the clock on the wall, "At least half an hour, could be as long as an hour." John answered.

The three women looked at each other then found seats as far away as they could get and still be in the same leg of the L shaped room.

"Mr. Gage?" Johnny called out, from the other side of his father, "Is it true, that you're the one who taught Aunt Elise how to use those Jaws things she uses to bend the cars up to get people out?"

"Yeah, I taught her a little," John answered setting his magazine aside, "Then I set her up with the fire academy for some extensive training She learned a lot more from them, than she learned from me."

"Mr. Gage? How long does it take to become a para- is it called Paramedic?" Johnny asked again and John noticed a smile on Jacob's face and a similar one on his father's face. John wasn't sure what he was seeing on the sisters' faces.

"If it's alright with your parents you can call me John, or even Uncle John, and to answer your question, it's a little different from state to state, but here in California, with all the extra stuff they've added for us to learn, it takes around six months, after you've passed the initial firefighting training."

"How long is that?" Johnny asked quickly.

"Three months plus a six month probationary period on an engine," John answered, being very aware of the enthusiasm in young John's interest but also watching his mother closely.

"How old do you have to be to start?"

"That depends on the area," John shifted in his chair, "Most academy's that I know of will take you when your eighteen but a lot of departments want you to be able to get a chauffeurs license so you can drive the equipment, and for that you need to be twenty-one."

"Uncle John," Johnny came back quickly, and John gave a quick look at the sisters to see how they were responding to the title. "Could we get a close up look at your fire engine and paramedic squad?"

John shifted in his chair again but kept the sister's in his sights, "I'm not going to be working for a while, at least until Elise is through the worst after her surgery but I'm sure I could get the rest of my crew to show you around, if it's alright with your parents."

"na," Brandon was shaking his head no, "Disland."

He might have been saying no but even John could tell he was joking.

"Awa, come 'on dad," Jacob jumped into the conversation, "We're going to be here for a week we've got time to do both."

"Dangerous, get hurt," Brandon countered.

"Ah, come 'on dad," someone's got to do it, and now that Aunt Elise can't do it any more we need to get someone else trained." Johnny started to argue with his dad in a whining tone.

"Yeah, dad," Jacob jumped into the discussion, "they've got teams trained on the reservation, that's what Aunt Elise was doing before she got hurt, but the way we and people in our town have treated them you know they'll never come as far as town to help us. Even if they did, it would take them too long to get there and we'd all die waiting for 'em."

While Johnny and Jacob were carrying on John looked up and saw Elise standing in the doorway to the waiting room, listening in on the conversation with a smile of interest on her face.

"Yeah, dad, Aunt Elise really made a big difference in our area, someone has to step up and take her place and this crap about helping the Indians is just stupid, they're people too." Johnny added, "I refuse to be a bigot just because my mother is the worst one in town. One of my best friends in school is an Indian and he's no different than the rest of us."

Joanie looked horrified at the label her son had just placed on her.

"Is there a charge for a tour of the fire station?" Johnny asked moving forward and not leaving any room for argument.

"No," Johnny smiled, "Just tell me what day you want to go and I'll make a call and set it up."

John then rose to his feet and walked straight for Elise to stand beside her as quickly as he could before her sisters noticed she was there.

"You all done?" John asked as he placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her next to him as he led her to a chair between Brandon and his sons and her sisters. He was willing to let them visit, but he was still going to protect Elise.

"Wow Aunt Elise, you look really good," Johnny was on his feet offering to give her a hug. "These doctors must really know what they're doing."

Elise wrapped her arms around Johnny then reached out to do the same for Jacob, then turning to her sisters she finally responded to Johnny's statement.

"Yes they do know what they're doing, Now that I have the pacemaker in, I'm getting stronger every day, I'm really looking forward to getting all these spare parts taken out of this head of mine and then we'll see where we can go from there."

Elise stayed silent for a moment then turned to Brandon, "Are they finding anything they can do to help you?"

Brandon shrugged one shoulder since the other didn't seem to respond. "See tomorrow," He answered.

"So how long are you all here and where are you staying?" Elise asked leaning into John's side to stay standing since she was growing tired.

"We just got here this morning," Joanie responded still trying to put her son's label behind her, "We drove down in the bus."

"I came with Patricia in her truck and camper," Vanessa added more information. "We're sure we can find a place to park them while we're here, um, a, you wouldn't be willing to make a suggestion as to where might be a good spot, would you?"

Elise turned to John and he kissed her on the forehead as he wrapped his other arm around her to hold her tight.

There's a couple of canyons around, but you might be hard pressed trying to find a flat place to park. There's several recreational trailer parks near the beaches and some of the parking lots on the shore line have people who spend the night, you just have to move everyday. Or," John paused and looked at his wife, the two shared eye contact and an understanding nod, "Or maybe you could a park at our place. Providing you're willing to behave yourselves, no wild all night rock and roll parties."

There was another moment of silence as the three sisters looked at each other.

"I guess we deserve that, after the way we've treated you," Patricia responded to John's offer. "We would like to stay close to Elise and help her out, if that's alright with you."

"I don't really need any help other than what I already have," Elise spoke up. "I hope you can all accept that I'm going to have this surgery and have decided to stop trying to talk me out of it."

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Joanie just had to ask.

"Yeah," Elise stood her ground, "I want it to the point of fighting for it in a court of law. What more can I do to convince you?"

Joanie hung her head and bit her lip while she took a quivering breath, "I guess we still think of you as our baby sister, you never did take our advice on anything."

"And you still haven't learned that I don't want your advice or to have it forced on me, and I haven't worn diapers for years now," Elise countered, then everyone gave a hesitant smile. Everyone that is except Brandon, he was very happy.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Everyone was settled in, the converted school bus and the truck and camper were parked behind home station, just beyond the area where sod had been laid. Elise and her aunt, had worked together to create a fabulous roast pork dinner for everyone and everyone ate.

There was no communication, other than accusing stares, mostly aimed at Rachel for her role in helping Elise escape, or was it that she had left her, father approved, husband to raise two orphaned Indian children.

After the sisters and their families had retired to their campers and beds, Uncle Milton gave an exaggerated sigh. "That's the most civil gathering there's ever been with all of us in one place. Son, you've had some effect on those girls, whether they're ready to admit it or not."

"I think you need to give Brandon most of the credit, and his sons," John commented. "For someone who has so much trouble talking, he sure got a message across. I just wish I knew for sure what that message was."

"You think your big city doctors are going to be able to do something for him?" Uncle Milton asked his eyes fixed on the lights in the bus.

"I'm not sure; the boys were talking about a new therapy program they wanted to try." John started to relay information, "They said there was no guarantees that it would help but that there were no risks either. They must have had some reason for doing all those tests today, but I don't know what they are. It's up to the family to tell us and then only if they want to."

John noticed Elise wrapping her arms around herself and pulled the blanket from the back of the lounge and wrapped it around her as he straddled the lounge chair and sat behind her pulling her back against himself.

Elise took hold of his arms and pulled them tighter around her, as she molded her body to his, and Uncle Milton felt that was his cue to call it a night.

Once Uncle Milton was inside Elise turned sideways and snuggled deeper into her husband's arms. "All of this is so unfair to you."

"How so," John was sure she was talking about her sisters and their attitudes. "It's nothing I haven't dealt with before."

"I'm talking about taking care of me." Elise clarified, "Marrying you was the most selfish thing I could have ever done, and you don't deserve this. There are no promises what I'll be like when they let me wake up after surgery."

John pulled her tighter against his chest and pinned her head down with his chin, being careful not to get near the damaged section of her skull.

"You're probably right, I don't deserve this. I'm not that good of a person, but since we've been married, I've been the happiest I've ever been in my life. I knew what I was getting into, with your health, but I never realized that each day with you in my arms would be better than the one before. I wouldn't trade one day. Not even one hour with you for anything in the world, not this house, the horse ranch, anything. Even the guys at the station say I've changed. Mike Stoker says that I'm peaceful, whatever that means. Me, I feel more excitement than I ever knew was possible, a kind of excitement I've never felt with anyone else but you."

John could feel moisture on his chest and knew that Elise was crying but he just snuggled her tighter to his chest and continued.

"Whatever happens after the surgery, we'll just take it one day at a time and we'll get through it. We will get through it, you and me, together. I promise you, I can handle everything Joanie has dealt with, on behalf of Brandon. They seem to be alright together."

John felt Elise's head make a sudden shift, as she looked up into his face, but he kept his gaze straight ahead and just snuggled his wife, his wife, to himself tightly.

In time, probably due more to her medications, Elise fell asleep in John's arms. After a little while, he lifted her up and carried her to bed and climbed in next to her, and continued to hold her in his arms.

The next morning, Elise was awake before John and managed to get out of bed and get breakfast going before he came looking for her. After the dishes were done, she coaxed John to let her help put the last of the fence posts in place. They were starting to string the cables between the posts, when she collapsed with exhaustion. After four hours of sleep she was ready to go again, but John convinced her to visit with her Aunt and Uncle instead. Rachael, Cody and Tobes had gone to Disneyland with Brandon and his family, keeping the place quiet.

While talking to Uncle Milton, Elise got an idea for a real estate venture that would benefit the reservation. Both John and Milton were excited for her, because she had something to look forward to after her surgery.

The next day Brandon had his Dr. appointment in the morning, and his family went with him. The rest of Elsie's the sisters stayed around home station to spend time with her. The atmosphere was strained and John stayed close to Elise, fearing what the sisters might try or that their presence might bring on a seizure. Later that afternoon, feeling Elise needed a break; John took her for a drive to the beach, and they walked in the waves for a while.

Brandon and his family were not talking much about what was discussed in their Dr. Appointment and as hard as it was for both Elise and John, they honored their choice of silence.

The next day was Sunday, and John had planned to work half a shift, being limited on vacation time and wanting to save as much as he could, for after the surgery. As he woke up that morning and realized that he didn't have to go to work, he was ever more appreciative of the gift his fellow Paramedics had given to him and Elise.

That morning Johnny and Elise took Johnny and Jacob to the fire station for a tour and both boys left with an application to the California Fire academy.

Later that night, John and Elise anxiously entered the hospital, where Elise was admitted prior to her surgery scheduled for the next morning. As much as she wanted to just walk to her assigned room, they insisted that she ride in a wheelchair. The hospital staff compromised, by letting John do the driving.

When they were led into her room, John was relieved to see a cot set up at the side of the bed for him. Elise wasn't so happy.

"But he needs to get his sleep," she objected.

"Do you think I'm going to get any sleep without you next to me?" John countered. All Elise could do in response was cry and John pulled her close and held on. "I love you Elise. We're in this together."

Dixie McCall was working the night shift and managed to slip up to check on Elise during a break. She checked in at the nurse's desk and found out that Elise had been sedated for the night and when she peeked in the door to check on her she found her sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed lowered to it's lowest level with John's arm around her from the cot pushed up right next to the bed.

When Dixie finished her sift, she made her way to Elise's room again and she was the one to shave Elise's head in preparation for her surgery. Watching Elise's beautiful hair fall and seeing her bald head, was hard on John. He was the one who recommended that she not look in the mirror. Without her hair to hide things, the deformity of her skull and the scars, from where the helmet chunk entered below the skull were dramatic. John had to work hard, to not let the horror of what he was seeing show on his face, thou he was sure some of it had come through. Elise took some of her hair and braided it. Then she formed it in the shape of a heart, and threaded her wedding ring on the braided strand before placing them both in to John's hand.

An IV was started and the first medications administered, as John held on to her hand and used all of his self control to keep a warm smile on his face as Elise's eyes succumbed to the drugs and she slipped into sleep.

John walked, at the side of her gurney, keeping her hand in his, till they reached the operating room doors. As he let go of her hand, so they could enter, John felt a wave of panic and fear overcome him as if this was the last time he was going to see her.

When the door closed, cutting off John's view of Elise, Dixie took John by the arm and led him to the waiting room.

There waiting for him was the entire Station 51 family, wives and girlfriends included. Elise's family was there also and everyone had an ice chest full of food.

"Please don't tell me one of those is full of beer," John tried to joke, but soon he could no longer hold back his tears and he found himself in the arms of all of his friends, as his in-laws looked on in surprise at the depth of his emotions.

Time ticked on, but it seemed to take an hour for each minute to pass. The TV was turned on and each channel surfed, and then turned off again several times. John and his crewmates spent most of their time in one corner of the room, although John did very little sitting and a whole lot of pacing. The sisters along with Brandon and the boys kept to themselves in another corner.

Rachael not feeling comfortable with either group, kept herself and her two children close to Uncle Milton and Aunt Carla, as they tried to entertain the two children.

Sandwiches, cookies, and drinks were placed in John's hands, at random intervals as he was encouraged to eat.

Around noon, the wives returned home, they had children to care for and knew they could be kept informed by phone. JoAnne took Cody and Tobes with her, so they could play with Chris and Jenny. Soon after the wives left, the girlfriends started leaving as well.

Dr. Bracket wondered in, five hours into the surgery.

"Things are going a little slower than they hoped," Kell Brackett informed John and the gathered crowd. "There was some bleeding when they pulled the foreign material away, but they were prepared for that. Elise's vitals are holding steady with no surprises there. The clot behind the chunk of helmet was bigger than they anticipated, but they have that under control now. They're just starting to stabilize the aneurism and the good news is that it's not as big as they feared."

Not able to say anything, John just nod his head at the report and accepted the affectionate slap to his shoulder from Dr. Brackett, as both Roy and Captain Stanley stepped up and gave his shoulders a supportive squeeze.

After six more hours of agonizing waiting, pacing and heaving sighing, the surgeons, Dr Morrison and Dr. Early entered the waiting room. Their face masks were dangling across their chests and the surgical scrubs were soaked with sweat, it was hard to get any idea how things went from Dr. Morrison's face, but John and Roy knew Dr. Early well enough to tell with one look that all was not well.

John was led into a private consulting room, and as Roy watched him go, he could tell he was holding his breath. The rest of the men looked to Roy and could tell that something was wrong. The in-laws picked up on the anxiety coming from the firemen.

John was behind the doors for a while, and when he was led from the room, Dr. Early paused long enough to wave for Roy to follow them.

Roy managed to catch up and enter the elevator just as the doors closed. He could see with one look that John was troubled. The two men were led to another waiting room and told a nurse would be by to get them as soon as Elise was settled in.

John moved over to a chair, with a look that was a thousand miles away, sat down. Roy went to his side and sat next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and waited patiently for John to tell him what he had been told.

It took a while but John slowly started to responded to Roy's presence and began to explain.

"There was bacteria growing in the clot they removed. They're afraid that some of it escaped into the brain cavity during surgery. They've started her on a real heavy duty anti-biotic but the next 72 hours is really critical. We just have to hope that the antibiotics kick in before the bacteria can spread very far. They did wash the area down with some disinfectant to slow it down, but it's still a race between the bacteria and the anti-biotic.

"There was also more swelling of the brain tissue then they had hoped there would be. They had to take the section of her skull and put it in a pouch in her abdomen, to keep it viable until the swelling goes down. Then they'll have to do another surgery to put it back."

"Okay," Roy tried to pull John together, "Things didn't go as smoothly as you hoped but it's still a lot better than the worst case scenario. There are a few things that can become a problem but they have happened yet. We just have to keep the faith."

John finally looked up at Roy and Roy could tell that he was holding on to his words with all that he had. John took in a couple of quick deep breaths and then held his breath for the count of ten before blowing it out.

"Roy, if they had done this back in Montana, they'd have had things all sealed up before bacteria could have gotten in there." John's rage was starting to grow.

"You don't know that Johnny, they could have also caused things to bleed and left her with more permanent brain damage or even killed her." Roy took a hold of both of John's shoulders and turned him to face him again. "John don't go there, let's keep this in the here and now. When Elise wakes up, she's going to need all of her family, so don't go starting another feud."

John locked eyes with Roy and just stared for the longest time, when the nurse entered telling John he could see his wife, John was finally able to agree with Roy and moved to follow the nurse.

Roy didn't even ask if it was alright if he came along, he just followed his partner into the neurological intensive care unit.

As was expected, Elise was on a respirator and her head was heavily bandaged, she had all the expected tubes and monitors hooked up, plus a few extra. Being a paramedic, John knew what most of the monitors were telling him and the few he didn't were explained to him. The most troublesome of the monitors, was measuring the pressure on the brain and its readings were quite high.

There was no question in Roy's mind; it was going to be a long three days.

John pulled a chair next to the bed and gently placed Elise's hand in his, after holding it tenderly for a while he intertwined their two sets of fingers, and then without looking away from Elise, John started talking to Roy.

"Would you please go tell the rest of her family, in the waiting room, what I told you? If the in-laws want to see her, they can, but just for a minute."

Roy left, knowing it was going to take the entire fire crew to pry John from that chair.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The waiting room party had packed up and moved, from the surgical waiting room, to the Neurological Intensive Care waiting room. In spite of the fact that they had been eating all day long, there was still a substantial amount of food to pack up and take with them. The wives had really out done themselves but John had only eaten a fraction of his usual amount.

Two by two, Elise's extended family entered the room. Each group only stayed for a few moments, and then returned to the waiting room for the next two to go.

"That bad," Brandon's words, stumbled out of his mouth, as he pointed to himself, then gesturing toward Elise's room.

Joanie looked at her husband as tears started to trail down her face. "Actually you looked a lot worse than she does." She said, then started to moisten her lips with her tongue.

"Yeah dad, a lot worse," Jacob spoke up, a distant look on his face, "both of your eyes were black, and I don't mean bruised, black eyes. I mean both eyes and the area around them were black. And they didn't have time to shave your whole head, before the first operation they only shaved one side."

"Yeah and they didn't bandage it. You could see the dent in your head and they had these tubes, poked under the skin, sucking blood out into some test tubes," Johnny added.

"We were so horrible Brandon," Joanie sobbed. "We didn't know if you were going to make it through the night, and all we could do was laugh, because you looked so weird, with half of your head shaved on one side and half of your mustache, on the other side shaved off. Add the black eyes and it was worse, than any of those Halloween costume you've ever put together."

"Half?" Brandon questioned with a rather comical look on his face.

"Yeah," Joanie chuckled, "They shaved the other half of your mustache off a couple of days later, when they put the feeding tube in through your nose. They never did shave the other side of your head; they just evened it out after the hair started to grow back, where they shaved it.

Brandon let out one of his strangled laughs. "Good for laugh," he said, and then pulled his family to him, one at a time, using his one good hand.

"Dad, since Aunt Elise looks so much better that you did, does that mean things are going to be better for her, than it was for you?"

"Hope," Brandon answered. And the others seemed slightly relieved and encouraged by their story.

Roy sat close to the rest of his crewmates, while they waited to their take turn to see Elise, but their concerns were focused on John. There was little they could do for Elise, that was the Doctors job. They had all promised Elise, they would watch out for John, and they intended to do so.

Cap that went in with Roy, once the family had had their turn. Both were quick to see just how unmovable John was, as he sat at the bed side, holding Elise's hand and telling her he needed her to come back to him.

"You rest now, let the antibiotics do their thing and give all those brain vessels time to heal," John told her. "Then we're going to get you up and walking around. I already know all the places, where we can hide and make out, once you're up and around." John's chatter brought a smile to Roy, but Cap's thoughts were drawn to the envelope Elise slipped him secretively while John was showing his new nephews around the Squad.

Hank had expected something more from her before the surgery. The day after they were married, she had shown up at the station with three envelops to be placed in John's personal file. One was filled with all the legal documents surrounding their marriage and power of attorneys. She had told Hank then that her brother-in-law was famous for making claims, at times when the courts were not open to verify such documents, and she wanted John to have them available to him at any time. It was less than an hour later that Hank used them to keep said brother-in-law, from stopping John from sighing permission for the heart pacemaker Elise needed to save her life.

The second envelope was a letter to John, in case she didn't make it through the surgeries. She had said at the time that there was so much more she wanted to say, but what was in the envelope, was the best she was able to do at the time. Yeah, Hank knew, a new and longer letter would be coming his way, before her head surgery. And the envelope she handed him at the station was quite thick, he guessed at least ten to twelve pages were enclosed.

As Hank looked at the lifeless and totally unresponsive Elise, his mind reflected on the third Envelope. Elise had explained that it was a letter to herself, just in case she didn't remember after the surgery, that she had promised to set John free, if she made him unhappy. She had listed several possible and devastating outcomes from the surgery, including major personality change, loss of memory and more that Hank couldn't remember right now.

His job in accepting that letter was if he noticed she was making John unhappy, he was to make her read it. Hank was sure accepting the responsibility of that letter also meant accepting the responsibility of a divorce. Not something he wanted to have on his shoulders.

While Hank rubbed John's shoulders and talked to him of taking care of himself so that he would be able to take care of Elise, Roy filled a picture with water, and then a glass, and placed it on the bed side table, positioned within easy reach of his partner and friend.

As they left the room to join the others in the waiting room, Hank was sure his advice to take care of himself, had fallen on deaf ears. Elise was the most important thing in his life, and nothing else mattered at the moment, including his health and well being.

When Hank and Roy stepped into the waiting room, they found more eyes on them, than they had expected or felt comfortable with.

"Is he really planning to stay at her bedside until they stop the medications that are keeping her in the coma?" Patricia questioned, as spokesperson for Elise's family.

"Unless we can manage to convince him otherwise," Roy answered. He was planning to set up, some kind of a rotation for people to sit with Elise, but as he looked over the concerned expressions, on the faces in the room, Roy already knew, or at least thought he did, who John would and wouldn't allow to sit with Elise in his stead.

Chet, Marco, and Mike moved over to their Captain and Senior Paramedic.

"So how long do we wait before we go in there with a straight jacket and haul him out of there?" Chet was the first to ask.

"Thanks to all my nieces and nephews, I'm very practiced in the art of rocking someone to sleep, using real rocks when needed," Marco offered and only received a slight smile in return.

Everyone looked to Roy for his suggestion on how to solve the problem at hand. "Let's just keep talking to him and trying to persuade him for the time being. Once she gets through the worst of it, I'm sure he'll want to get some sleep, so he can be more attentive when she's allowed to wake up.

There was a steady rotation through Elise's room; Rachel was the first to offer to stay with Elise, so that John could get some rest. She knew better than to say the word, "sleep," to him.

"NO, I'm fine," John had insisted. "You have your children to look after, and they need you more than you need to be here."

Brandon managed to hobble over to Roy in the waiting room, "Help, me, in." He gestured toward the doors to the ICU unit. Roy was willing to do as he was asked and helped Brandon manipulate the doors, walking quietly at his side, as Brandon moved with great difficulty, worked his way to Elise's room. Once there he placed his good but shaky hand on John's shoulder.

"ME stay, you go."

John looked up at Brandon and then at Roy, before looking back at Brandon, "NO, this is my place. It's my right and my privilege to be here with my wife."

"Need rest."

"I'm a firefighter, I'm conditioned for activities much more strenuous than this. I'll be fine."

They worked their way back to the waiting room where anxious eyes were watching for them. Brandon simply shook his head negatively, as he was aided through the door.

The sisters turned their moist eyes to Roy, "He doesn't trust us does he," Vanessa asked with a voice broken by emotion. "Because of what we did, the decisions we made before she came here. He's not going to let us be alone with her is he?"

Roy knew she was right, but chose not to say anything, his silence spoke volumes.

"What does he think we'd do to her? She's our sister for heaven's sake, and we love her?" Vanessa questioned Roy as Patricia and Joanie just looked more and more devastated.

"So does he," Roy chose his words carefully. "More that life it's self. He loves your sister with every fiber of his being, and he's going to do everything in his power, to be there for her and help her through this."

Roy knew the rules and routine of the ICU, he'd spent more than his share of time in one or another at John's side. John would be required to leave the room for one hour during each shift change, to give the staff unencumbered access to their patient. The first thing John did after leaving Elsie room was to head for the bathroom. When he came out, Roy was waiting for him with something to eat, and then he sat next to him and encouraged him to actually eat it.

"Why don't you let me sit with her for a while," Roy offered. "Brackett offered you the couch in his office, to get some rest."

John broke from his normal mannerism and swallowed, all that was in his mouth, before he responded to his partner. "If it was JoAnne in there what would your answer be?"

Roy only looked at the floor, there were no words needed, both men already knew the answer to that question. "But," Roy recovered, "if it were JoAnne in there you would be at my side, reminding me, that if I didn't take care of myself I wouldn't be able to help her."

The evening was long, at Roy's suggestion, Cap sent the rest of the crew home to get some sleep, even he and Roy left for a few hours.

-0-

When they returned the next morning just before John would be asked to leave for the shift change routine, they found that Rachael had left, but then Roy knew she had picked up her children, but the rest of the family was still there.

Some of them were stretched out on the floor, with jackets folded under their heads for pillows. Brandon was sitting in a corner, resting his head back against the wall. Uncle Milton was sitting on the floor in another corner with his legs crossed in some form of meditation, Roy was sure it was a form of prayer. His wife sat silently and respectfully at his side. The sisters were pacing.

"How did it go after we left?" Hank was the diplomatic one who approached the sisters and spoke in a quiet voice to keep from waking those on the floor.

"There's been no change," Joanie answered, "they've just rolled her several times to keep her from getting bed sores, they can't sift her much though because of all the tubes and stuff. John actually moved to the other side of the bed, early this morning, I noticed that he actually rested his head on the side of the bed and closed his eyes for a while, but I don't think he slept.

"No, probably not," Roy had followed his captain's lead and was standing there in the conversation, a container of John's favorite Oatmeal in his hands.

"You know, when Elise was in that accident, the doctors told us that there was nothing they could do for her, and that they didn't think she'd make it through the night," Joanie began to try and explain their actions to John's friends. "When Brandon was injured, there was another doctor working at the hospital, they said he was a resident, just out of medical school. He and Elise were both determined to do something to help my husband, even if it was wrong. It was Elise who knew a doctor, who would come to us. And this, Dr. Miller, called and got him to fly out to our little hospital. Dr. Miller was killed by a drunk driver a few months after my husband returned home, and with Elise being the one injured . . . . I didn't realize it at the time, but I do now, we didn't have anyone, to give us hope and a possibility that she could be helped. They didn't even operate to take the debris out of her chest until two days after the accident. As I look back on things now they were so sure she was going to die. I'm surprised they even did that shock thing the three times her heart stopped."

Roy was beginning to understand where the sisters had been emotionally; at the time they made their choice, not to put Elise through more surgeries.

"When she stabilized after her chest surgery, my husband, He's the nurse that tried to drug her so we could take her back home, after her surgery."

"Anyway, Greg was telling us that she just needed time for her body to heal its self." Patricia added.

"They kept Brandon in a drugged sleep for a long time after his accident, to give his brain a chance to heal, and then his seizures stopped after a while." Joanie spoke again, "It made sense to do the same for Elise. We were just doing what we thought was best for her."

Roy could see all kinds of errors to their thinking, but he also realized that, without his training, and with the information they were being given by Greg, whom Roy now knew had ulterior motives, Roy could understand the choices they made, no matter how wrong they were.

When John stumbled through the waiting room and straight to the bathroom, Roy was encouraged by his calm appearance. Just like the day before, when John opened the door to come out of the bathroom, Roy was standing there quick to place the food in John's hand.

Roy and Hank each took one of John's arms and led him to a bench, where they all sat down and encouraged him to eat. When he was finished with the fruit laced oatmeal, it was Uncle Milton who had the magic words to say. He stepped up and handed John a rolled up towel, and Roy could see the hint of clean clothes inside. "I'm sure with your connections you can find a shower somewhere." The man spoke, with an added innuendo that one was needed. "My wife and I would love to stay at her side while you take care of your needs; Elise is the closest thing we have to a child of our own. We will look after her."

Roy didn't miss a beat and suggested his place for a shower, giving Uncle Milton a smile as they left, pulling John along with them before he changed his mind.

-0-

Once he'd showered at Roy's house, he was led to the guest bedroom to dress in his clean clothes. A few minutes later, Roy tapped on the door to check on him, when he didn't get a response; he opened up to find John was leaning against the back of a chair, fighting to keep his eyes open. Roy simply entered the room and helped his friend over to the bed and laid him down. All the while telling him, Elise was alright and they knew where to call if anything changed.

John slept well for several hours, and would have slept longer, if he hadn't been woke up but two young siblings fighting. They had forgotten that Uncle Johnny was still there.

Roy drove his friend back to the hospital, feeling grateful that he had gotten five hours of sleep. When they arrived Roy followed him to Elsie room, his goal to make sure his best friend had a glass of water at his side, for his long vigil. When they entered the room they found Elise on a cooling blanket, with another on top of her, her temperature was 103.8 and rising.

"Why wasn't I called," John spoke softly, so he wouldn't upset his wife, but his anger was well displayed.

"There was no reason to call you, her temperature going up was expected, that's why she is on antibiotics," Was the nurse's answer.

Roy watched as John growled at the nurse before he walked over to the bedside and repositioned a chair next to the bed then sat down. Then he watched in confusion as John removed a handkerchief that was tied around Elise's hand before taking her hand in his.

"Do you know why he ties the handkerchief around her hand whenever he leaves her side?" The nurse questioned Roy. "We took it off once and he got really angry with us."

"I have no idea," Roy explained. "This is the first I've noticed it, I'm usually outside, waiting with something for him to eat when he comes out."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

John took his seat at Elise's side, he had actually thought since she made it the first twenty-four hours without spiking a temp, that there was a good chance that she wouldn't. Now it was closing in on 104 and climbing. 'How could they have not called him? Were they that complacent that they didn't see this as a turn for the worse? Or are they like her family and think there is nothing to fight for? Or were they just so happy to have him out of their hair that they wouldn't have called no matter what had happened?'

Angrily, John sat at the bedside, and removed the handkerchief he had tied around Elise's hand and took a hold of her fingers and began to rub. Immediately Elise's heart rate increased. John quickly realized Elsie could tell he was upset, and that was upsetting her so he started to talk softly and calmly forcing himself under control.

"I'm back sweetheart," John cooed, as he reached up with his other hand and started to stroke the side of her face with his fingers. "Sorry I wasn't here sooner. I was just getting a little sleep and they forgot to call me, to tell me that you needed me. I'm here now; let's just think cool thoughts shall we. Those antibiotics should kick in real soon now."

Roy watched as Elise's monitors returned to happier measurements, and noticed that her facial features calmed at John's touch and words. He knew, Elise would never remember anything said or done in these first few days, but it was very clear that she knew John was at her side and was comforted by his presence.

Avoiding John's anger, the nurses finished their bedside care and moved to the observations desk to work on their charts, opting to watch Elise's vitals on the monitors there.

Once they were alone in the room, Roy pulled a chair up, and sat down at John's side. "You okay partner?"

John looked at Roy, like that was the most annoying question he could ever ask, then with a smirk he responded, "Yeah I'm fine. Just fine."

"Can I ask a question?" Roy dared to tread on John's sarcasm.

"You can ask, we'll see if I answer." John came back, without taking his attention away from Elise or stopping the tender stroking at the side of her face.

"Why do you tie a handkerchief around Elise's hand when you leave?" Roy asked being mindful to school his voice and not make it sound like he thought, the act was totally ridiculous. "The nurses were asking and I don't have any idea what to tell them."

John was silent for a long minute or more, and just when Roy had decided he wasn't going to answer, John leaned back in his chair and turned toward his trusted friend.

"It's, well, it's just a private thing between Elise and me." John finally answered, "I don't think anyone else but us would understand."

Roy was still curious, but he could sense his partner's agitation, and felt that it would be best if he let this one go. Even he and JoAnne, had little things they did for each other, that he would never want to explain to someone else; he would give his partner that privacy.

Roy stayed with John for a while, but there was no conversation between the two of them, and Roy could easily tell that the only thing in John's world was Elise. After over an hour of silence, Roy left to make room for other family members to come in. After he stepped into the waiting room and announced that some one else could go back, no one wanted to go. They just didn't know how to deal with what was happening, but mostly they didn't know what to say to John.

They didn't realize that he didn't care if they said anything.

-0-

John remained at Elise's side and found a nervous calmness in watching her sleep. As he stroked the side of her face and caressed her hand with his thumb, his mind drifted back in time.

It was years ago, nearly two years after He and Elise had met. They had exchanged letters, talked on the phone and even gotten together for training sessions but they were just friends. But, at any given moment, it would have been so easy to become more than that. During those times John had tried to comfort her through the aftermath of some bad runs. Runs she and her team were ill prepared for, in equipment and training. But the night that was on John's mind was after one of his bad runs.

Truth is, it wasn't the worst run he'd ever had, but for some reason he couldn't understand at the time, he was having a harder time copping, than he ever had before. It was a motor vehicle accident involving a fuel tanker and a mini bus loaded with children.

There was a fire involved and Johnny had climbed inside the bus and was handing children out the window to any open and waiting arms. He then, was able to loosen a bolt at the bottom of the drivers chair and pull the seat back, something he had been reminded he could do from one of Elise's letters. Then the driver was quickly slipped onto a back board and four men, Johnny never even took the time to notice who they were, each took a corner of the back board and ran. John bailed out of the bus as quickly as he could and stumbled, before getting fully on his feet. He was just starting to run when the tank exploded, sending Johnny tumbling along the pavement like a rag doll. His helmet had been cracked, and his knee and shoulder wrenched and dislocated. He wasn't really hurt that badly, it had just left him in pain.

He had just been jerked awake for the third time in a little over two hours attempted sleep by a similar nightmare and was fighting an all out panic attack. He had to talk to some one who could help him get a handle on his anxieties but it was just after one in the morning. Who dare he call for such a thing? Thru his letters with Elise, he knew she was a night owl, he knew she'd be awake. He needed to talk with someone and because of their correspondence; he knew she'd understand and be willing to help. Johnny remembered that he had started to dial her number three times, only to hang up before dialing the last number.

As John watched Elise's calm face, he smiled, as he remembered his thoughts, that proceeded him finally dialing the last number, and actually allowing the phone to ring once, obligating him to hang on until she answered. John had decided that if he called her, she'd be more willing to call him in the future and she wouldn't have to wait several days, for his letters to get to her and for his answer to her question, "What could I have done differently?"

John still remembered how sleepy Elise sounded when she answered the phone.

"I'm sorry I, I, I, shouldn't have called this late," He stammered.

"John, Johnny Gage, it that you? What time is it? John, are you alright?"

"I was just having trouble sleeping. I, I, thought. . . . In your last few letters you said you didn't sleep well during the nights. I'm sorry, it's just stupid anyway." John was just about to hang up the phone when he heard.

"John Gage, do not hang up that phone!" "Now tell me why you're having trouble sleeping."

For the next hour John talked about the run, and his nightmares. Elise had had a similar accident that she had dealt with. Well maybe not so similar buy both accidents had involved a bus and kids, and for the sake of their conversation, it was enough similarity for them to understand what the other was dealing with and to be able to communicate on the subject.

After John had told Elise about his injuries, she asked how he was being treated. That's when he told her about the new pain medication he'd never taken before; this one wasn't supposed to make him sick to his stomach. Elise recognized a common side effect in John's reaction. The two of them talked for hours and John still had the phone bill from that night tucked away with the letters from Elise that he kept. After she had calmed him down, and the side effects of the new medication started wearing off, she talked to him, to get him totally relaxed so that he could go back to sleep.

She had asked him to be her hands, since her arms weren't long enough, and after reminding him that he was all alone and no one could see him, she asked him to give himself a hug for her.

Now John didn't really do what she asked him, but in his mind, he allowed himself to feel her hug. And he knew without a doubt that she cared for him and if she hadn't been so far away, she'd have been there holding him through the bad dreams. Before she hung up, she had asked John to loosely tie a bandanna around his hand and told him to think of her when he felt it. She had told him that was the only way she could hold his hand at that time, but that she was with him in spirit. John hand was already bandaged, but when he had trouble getting to sleep he did tie the bandanna around his hand and thought of Elise. Once he did that he slept well until early afternoon before he woke, gently holding the knot that was tied in the bandanna. His dreams of that day were now reality, she was with him in much more than spirit now.

It had been two and a half years since that night, for the first week, after that night, Elise had called him every day, to make sure he was alright. And John tied the bandanna around his hand before he went to sleep every night. Having the bandanna around his hand served as a substitute for holding her hand in his. John kept the bandanna draped over the headboard of his bed from then on and ever since that night, when ever he was having a hard time sleeping, John would just tie the bandanna around his hand, and it always helped him to feel like someone understood what he was feeling and cared for him, in spite of his inadequacies and imperfections. But most of all he never felt alone.

It took twenty eight hours for the fever to break and thru it all the only time John left her side was when he was forced to. Each time he left, the handkerchief was tied around Elise's hand, in hopes that it brought her as much peace as it had given him the last few years.

John could easily tell that Elise was calmer when he was at her side, and because he didn't trust them to call him if there were any changes, he didn't leave the hospital again for as long as she was in intensive care.

-0-

When Roy returned to duty, John asked him to bring the unopened package of underwear from his locker. Dixie found him a set of scrubs to wear that morning and a shower for him to use. Elise's sisters stepped up at that point, to make sure he had clean clothes brought to him every day. They also got together with Roy, to find out what kind of food he liked, and made sure he was handed at least three meals a day.

If anything good came out of that time, it was that Elise's family realized that John truly loved her with all his heart, and regardless of his parentage, he was a good man and a devoted husband to their sister. They couldn't have wished her any more happiness than what John gave to her. Several of them realized how much they were missing in their own marriages. Something that none of them wanted to share publicly.

On day four, the swelling in the brain had gone down enough to take Elise back to surgery.

After replacing the section of skull, they then repaired the inner ear damage. Elise handled the surgery so well, that the medications keeping her in a coma were reduced that night.

Slowly over the next two days, Elise grew more responsive, first there was only a subtle returned squeeze to John's hand. But she wouldn't squeeze the doctors' hands, so they weren't sure if John was imagining it or not. The only response the doctors could get from her was to pain stimuli and although John knew it was important, it was hard for him to sit back and let them inflict pain on his wife.

John had fallen asleep with his head on the side of the bed, Elise's hand still in his. And he was awaken by hesitant fingers caressing his cheek, and when he opened his eyes, blinking them into focus, he followed the fingers to their owner; John saw the most beautiful sight he could wish for. Elise was looking back at him and smiling around the breathing tube.

That breathing tube was removed during the next shift change and her first words to John were, "Go, sleep." John did go to sleep, while resting his head on the bed near her shoulder and holding her hand in his.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

John was awakened by a crash! Actually, it was his body crashing to the floor; he had just adjusted his position slightly, to get comfortable, and, well the real problem was, he wasn't even remotely in bed far enough to keep from falling, he was just resting his head on the edge of the mattress, the rest of him, at the time he fell, was more out of than in the chair at the side or the bed.

His wife, Elise, who was in the ICU hospital bed he was sleeping against, was also awaken by the crash, although due to the drugs in her system it took her much longer to respond.

Fortunately for John, Roy and Cap were on hand to pick him up off the floor. They were there by special invitation from Dr Early. Dr Early was hopeful that John's two friends would be able to more or less sleep walk the exhausted man to a nearby gurney and place him in a quiet linen closet to sleep for a while.

At the moment, it was all Roy could do to keep from laughing out loud at the sight of his partner's twisted body sprawled out on the floor.

Still hooked up to more monitors and tubes than was reasonable to move, Elise managed to slowly roll her head to look at John, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," John spoke quickly, but when he tried to get up, there was a definite moan of pain.

"All right ya twit, let's get you out of the way so that the Doctor can do his job." Hank reached down with a smile and took hold of one of John's shoulders while Roy took hold of his other arm.

"AAAA," John complained and quickly pulled his arm away from Roy's grasp. One quick look and Roy could see that it was rapidly swelling and could only shake his head at his partner.

One of the nurses tossed Roy a pillow from the gurney they were planning to use for John, and then turned to get a wheel chair. Roy padded John's right wrist with the pillow then guided his left hand to hold the pillow in place as he took hold of his shoulder and helped the captain pull John to his feet.

"Come on pall," Hank spoke with humor in his voice as he pushed John down into the wheelchair that was being provided for him. "Let's go see what you did to yourself when you fell out of bed."

Roy slipped his feet onto the foot rests as Hank pulled the wheelchair away from the room, while John turned his head as far as he could to keep eye contact with his Elise.

"I'll be right back just as soon as they finish with shift change." John called as he was wheeled away.

Dr. Morton didn't miss a chance to give his most irritating patient, a laugh at his injuries. A rather severely sprain wrist. After an hour of ice therapy, John's impatience convinced the doctor to put a brace on his wrist and forearm and then a sling around John's neck to hold the wrist in a slightly elevated position as well as supply a pocket to hold an ice pack on the wrist for as long as they could persuade him to keep it on.

After failing to convince John to sit in the wheelchair, Roy walked at his side while Hank followed along with the wheelchair just in case they could get John to come to his senses.

Once they reached the Intensive Care Ward John found Dr. Early waiting for him.

"What is it doc?" John asked with panicked eyes, not liking the look on the doctor's face.

The first thing Dr. Early did was place a hand on John's shoulder and push him down into the wheelchair that was right behind him. Dr. Early then sat in a chair next to him, so as to be on the same level as his patient's worried husband.

"We've evaluated Elise's motor functions and she's exhibiting some weakness on her left side." Dr. Early began.

John took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "We knew that was a possibility." John nodded his head in a calm matter. "Can you tell yet if it's permanent or will it get better with therapy?"

Dr. Early smiled at the positive attitude of the respected paramedic before him. "It is too early in the game to know much at all for sure. There could still be some improvement as the swelling continues to go down and the injury continues to heal, also we are still keeping her somewhat sedated. We are still picking up some seizure activities in her brain waves. Mild but present.

"She had a slight seizure just after you left and we're going to want to see to it that she gets some serious rest for a few more days. And you need to get some sleep to. I'm going to let you go visit with her for a while and let her know that you're all right. Then I want you to let her rest alone and get some serious rest yourself."

Dr. Early was speaking sternly with John but knew even as he did, that John was not really listening to him.

"You're not going to put her back in a coma are you?" John questioned looking at Dr. Early very intently.

"NO, nothing that severe at this point, but we are going to keep her pretty quiet for a few more days. And, we want you to be working toward that goal also."

John looked at the doctor and let out a deep breath, unable to think of anything to say or any questions to ask, he simply nod his head to the doctor he trusted to give his wife the best care that could be given.

"Now she's worried about you after you're fall," Dr. Early continued, "let her see that you're alright and then both of you need to get some sleep."

Dr. Early stood up and started to lead the way as Hank began to push the wheelchair after him.

"I can walk," John placed his feet firmly on the floor. "How am I supposed to convince her I'm all right if you're pushing me around in a wheelchair for Pete's sake?" John pushed himself out of the chair with his good arm and then turned to look at his professional superior, "It's just a sprain wrist, I don't need a wheelchair."

Since Rachael was already visiting with her sister, Hank remained outside to hang onto the wheelchair for later use, weather John wanted it or not. Roy stayed at John's side. He was there to make sure John came out again in a timely manner.

Elise found his eyes as soon as he walked into the room, then her eyes move to the sling suspending his arm. "Is it broken?"

"NO, it's just a sprain," John spoke through the biggest crooked smile he had, Elise was talking to him and her voice was a bit slurred but John was sure it was just because of all the sedatives they were giving her. "I'll be as good as new in no time."

As Rachael moved out of the way, and John moved in and sat on the edge of the bed at Elise's side. Elise managed to push the button to raise the head of the bed slightly but had to reach across with her right hand to have enough power to do so. John noticed that but he also noticed that she was adapting already.

Lovingly John bent down, giving Elise a quick kiss on the lips before sitting straight and smiling at her. "Have I told you today how much I love you, and how beautiful you are?"

John took hold of Elise's hand with his left hand and toyed with her fingers as she worked to get both of her hands around his. Her head was bandaged, and her face swollen, but her smile was all his and her love for him was beaming from her eyes.

John just returned her smile, not being able to think of anything to say at the moment, he gave her fingers a gentle squeeze as she toyed with his hand, when she found his wedding ring she twisted it on his finger, then she looked at what her hands had found before looking up at John with a puzzled expression that quickly turned to one of panic.

"What's wrong, Elise," John responded to the panicked look on her face.

"I waited too long," Elise responded as the nurse moved in to double check the monitors that were now showing an extremely elevated heart rate and sounding off several alarms. "I waited too long," Elise repeated totally confusing John.

"It's too late for us, John you shouldn't be here. I don't want to mess up your life. Go John, just leave me don't let me ruin your happiness."

Elsie started to seize as Rachael moved in to try and comfort her and Roy moved in to take his partner by his shoulders and pull him away from the bed so that the medical staff could move in with the needed medications to stop the seizure.

Wrapping his arm around John's chest, Roy pulled him back to where Hank stood with the wheelchair. It took both of them pulling him and then pushing down before John sat in the wheelchair and with two firm hands on his shoulders he stayed there, but not willingly.

It was only a few moments before Dr. Early was seen walking down the hall rubbing his hand with one finger as he walked.

"Doc, what happened in there?" John was quick to ask, trying to get out of his chair but unable to against the strong hands holding him down. "I don't understand."

"Well I'm not entirely sure myself, as to what had your wife so upset, but we do have the seizure under control and she should sleep now for several hours." Dr. Early informed John, "All of her readings are back to normal and she should be just fine. Once she wakes up again we'll see if we can sort all of this out, but in the mean time you need to get some sleep."

Dr. Early motioned for Hank to follow him and while Roy supplied the restraint to keep John in the chair, Hank drove it to the linen closet where Joe Early had arraigned for John to get some sleep.

"But doc I can't sleep," John protested as Hank and Roy lifted him from the chair and onto the gurney that was wedged between the shelves. "They won't call me if she needs me."

Once John was sitting on the edge of the gurney Dr. Early stepped up and placed both hands on John's shoulders. "She's going to sleep now for several hours John, Her sister is with her, the one who helped her escape in the first place." Dr. Early moved to lay John down on the pillow that had been placed there for him. "I promise you I will come and get you personally when she wakes up and we'll work on getting to the bottom of what upset her."

As the doctor talked to John, Roy worked to remove the sling from around his neck and place his arm on another pillow with the ice pack on top of his wrist, while Hank pulled his feet up on the gurney and slipped his shoes off.

"The pain medication that Dr. Morton gave you should be starting to kick in about now," Dr. Early spoke calmly and as hypnotically as possible. "Sleep, sleep, I promise I'll come get you myself as soon as Elise is awake again."

Hank and Roy worked together to drape a blanket over John and tucked it in around his shoulders, then Hank rubbed his feet through the blanket while Roy rubbed his back and slowly but finally John's eyes fluttered closed.

Once John was asleep Dr. Early left the closet, Roy silently signaled his captain before following the doctor out.

"Doc, John is going to be furious when he wakes up." Roy started to scold the doctor. "Dr Morton told him that he was just giving him some aspirin to help with the swelling, nothing that was going to knock him out."

"If Mike Morton said he was giving him aspirin, he probably did," Joe Early responded with a grin, "I was just using the power of suggestion to get a good friend of mine to get some much needed rest. I don't think John has gotten any sleep for the last four days, other than the few cat naps he's taken at the side of Elise's bed. The suggestion along with the exhaustion was all he needed to get him to sleep. However," Dr. Early turned back to Roy as he was walking away, "If he needs anything more, I'm willing to give it."

Roy turned back to the closet to see Hank standing there peeking through the partially open door, the smile on his face was all Roy needed to know that his captain had heard everything.

-0-

Both John and Elise slept for six hours. Hank and Roy took turns sitting at his side to make sure he wasn't disturbed, they were spelled off a few times by both Uncle Milton and Brandon.

It was the smell of popcorn that Roy was nibbling on at his side that started to bring John to life again, but he didn't really wake up until Dr. Early walked in and placed a hand on his shoulder with a gentle shake.

John rolled his head with a bit of a start and looked up at Dr. Early with newly awake eyes. "Is Elise alright?"

"As far as I know yes," Dr. Early answered calmly; he wanted to ask if John slept well but he had already checked in on him several times during the last few hours and knew he was sleeping like a log. "They just paged me to tell me she's awake. I'm on my way to see her now; I think it would be best if you give me a few minutes to see if we can determine why she got so upset earlier before you come in."

John didn't like the sound of what the doctor was saying, but he thought back on his wife telling him, that he should go, and reluctantly gave the doctor an affirmative nod of his head before swinging his feet off to the side of the gurney he was laying on.

Hank had followed the doctor into the closet and once he left he quickly started to help John get his shoes back on.

John pushed Roy away as he was trying to reapply the sling on his arm and reached down to pull one of his shoes on while his captain finished with the first one. Once John was on his feet he only took a second to finish waking up and then he was sprinting out the door catching up with Dr. Early before he made it to the room.

Following Dr. Early's advice, to give him a moment, John waited outside and stood by the screen showing what was going on inside the room. Rachael, Joanie, and Vanessa were in the room with Elise and Elise was visibly still very upset.

"I waited too long," Elise was telling her sisters as they tried to keep her calm. "I should have found out about him before I came out here. I can't do this to him." Elise was repeating and not giving her sisters a chance to calm her. But then even they claimed she never listened to them.

Dr. Early walked into the room and in a calm manner pulled up a chair and sat down, talking softly, he succeeded in doing what the sister's failed to do. Elise calmed down at least a little.

"Now Elise I want you to calm down." Dr. Early spoke softly, "There is nothing that I can see that we can't fix once we figure out what the problem is. Now if you'll just lay back and relax a little, that's right, take a deep breath and relax." Dr. Early coaxed as John watched at the nurse's station and let out a slight sigh himself, now that his wife was calming down.

"Okay Elise, let's stay very calm, now I want you to tell me what's got you so upset."

John stayed at the nurse's station watching as Elise calmed but tears began to streak her face, "I waited too long, I should have come to California a long time ago. I should have come years ago." Elise babbled and Dr. Early just reached up and gently touched her arm. "Now he's moved on and I'm just messing up his whole life."

"When you say He are you talking about John Gage?" Dr. Early asked confirmingly.

Elise nod her head in a way that obviously caused her some pain and she needed a minute to let things settle.

"Okay, that's right, take it easy and just relax." Dr. Early continued to coach Elise in working through her troubled thoughts. "Now why do you feel that you are messing up John's life, because I can assure you that John care's for you very deeply and would do anything humanly possible for you."

"I love him too," Elise cried, "But I waited too long to come out here," she sobbed and took a moment to catch her breath, "I felt his wedding ring, he's married, I'm just messing up his life being here right now."

Three sisters moved to Elise's side all talking at one, "Elise it's alright he loves you. It's you- John loves you more than life it's self he could never be with anyone else."

"Doctor can you get his wife to come see me, would she talk to me? I'll do anything to make this right for him, Please Doctor."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

John gasped at what he was hearing from the room. Before he could go to Elise, take her in his arms and explain that she was his wife and the love of his life, he felt two sets of hands take hold of his shoulders and wrap around his chest to hold him back.

"It's alright Johnny, just give Dr. Early a chance to help her remember," Roy spoke softly into John's ear as he held him tight. "You'll just upset her if you go barging in there right now, possible send her into another seizure."

"You knew this could happen," Cap confirmed from the other side holding on just as tight as Roy was. "From what I can tell so far most of this can be taken care of with those photo albums Roy's and my wife are working on. Everything's going to work itself out, just give it some time."

John continued his attempt to pull away from his friends but when he realized his efforts were futile he turned to Roy and then Cap and then back to Roy as tears began to streak his face.

"Just give Dr. Early a few minutes and I'm sure he'll set Elise straight." Roy spoke again as he began to pull John closer to him.

"Alright Elise, I need you to remain calm." Dr. Early spoke and silenced the sisters with a wave of his hand. "I assure you that everything will be worked out, but before we can move forward I need to ask you a very important question. Okay now, can you stay calm and work with me for just a few minutes."

Elise tearfully lay back and after a gulping swallow locked eyes with Dr. Early and carefully this time nod her head affirmatively.

"All right now, Elise I need you to tell me the last thing you remember before you woke up here in the Intensive Care Unit."

Elise closed her eyes and took a couple of panicked breaths. She opened her eyes again and looked at Dr. Early, then her eyes darted back and forth but not really seeing anything as she licked her lips.

"I'd been in California for a few days, I had to sneak away from the nursing facility back home, because they wouldn't treat my injuries. They, my sister's, just wanted to keep me sedated to control the seizures. I'd . . . I'd been in an accident and I needed surgery to repair the damage done, take a chunk of the helmet I was wearing, out of my head, but . . . but my family, they thought it was too risky and wouldn't authorize it so I . . . I called John, at his fire station and, and, I asked him to help me find a doctor who would treat me and then I snuck out of the nursing home and flew here. Then my sisters and some of their husbands . . . Tom . . . Tom and Greg . . . they came after me and were trying to take me back home. Dr. Bracken . . . no, Brackett, his name was Brackett, he helped us escape and told me about a Lawyer . . . his father, his father became my lawyer. John was there, John carried me out and stayed with me . . . he took care of me for several days while I saw several other doctors so I could convince a judge that I really knew what I wanted and was with it enough to make my own decisions."

Elise closed her eyes again and grimaced as she thought hard, then she licked her lips again. "I think I remember other things but only bits and pieces." She panted again, "the last thing that seems clear was . . . I was in a room, resting in a recliner and there were several people in the room, A nurse . . . I think her name was Dixie, and several doctors, you were one of them." Elise pointed to Dr. Early and then thought hard again. "We were talking about the court appointment with the judge and my Lawyer was telling me that everything was . . . he used some legal terms but then he said that everything would be alright and that I'd be able to have the surgeries I wanted, even if I had a seizure and didn't make it to the court house."

Elise opened her eyes wide and turned to Dr. Early, "John was with us, he was fussing over me and doing everything to see to my comfort . . . I remember he checked my vital signs a couple of times. His wife must really hate me. How could I be so totally selfish to interfere with his marriage?"

"Please Dr. Early you've got to get her in here so that I can talk to her, apologize for what I've done. I've got to somehow straighten things out, make everything right for John." Elise pleaded as she tried to sit up only to have Dr. Early take hold of her shoulders and push her back down.

"Okay, Okay now calm down, we'll take care of that in just a moment," Dr. Early continued to speak softly, "can you stay calm and listen to me for just a few more moments?" Dr. Early coaxed. "Okay, now just calm down and listen to me."

Elise lay back against her pillow but the monitors confirmed she was anything but calm her face held a stressed look as well."

"Elise, are you listening to me?" Dr. Early spoke still holding her shoulders to the bed. "Now Elise, if you can remember the night before we all went to court, then you must remember some of the possible complications to the surgery me and your other doctors talked to you about before then. Do you remember being told that there was a real chance that there would be some memory loss? Do you remember being told that?"

Elsie hesitated for a moment, as her breathing slowed slightly and she locked eyes with Dr. Early but it was clear that her mind was focused on a memory. "Yeah," she responded with a faint nod of her head.

"Okay now I want you to realize that there is still some swelling in your brain and some more healing to take place, but it appear that you have a few gaps in your memory. Nothing real serious but I want you to relax and believe that those memories may come back to you and if they don't we can help you by filling in the details."

Elise took in another breath and held it. All the monitors and her facial expressions showed some calming.

"Now, I think it's important to tell you that John wasn't married at the time you last remember. He got married the next day." Dr. Early talked as he watched Elise's reactions carefully. "You were there when he got married."

Meanwhile, Rachael was digging through her purse and finally pulled a small photo album out and opened it to a particular page, she handed it to Dr. Early, "Here, Emily Stanley gave me this."

"Who's Emily Stanley, I don't know any one named Emily Stanley," Elise looked confused as she started to get agitated again."

"Now calm down," Dr. Early kept one hand on Elise's shoulder while he reached for the picture book with the other hand. "I'm asking you to trust me here and I'm telling you that Mrs. Stanley is a friend of John's and a new friend to you, she's the person who took the pictures I'm about to show you."

Elise stopped fighting Dr. Early but was far from calm; slowly the photo album was moved closer to her and she reached out to take it in her hands with great trepidation. Hesitatingly she turned the book toward herself using both hands with less than perfect control.

Her eyes flew open wide as a smile spread across Dr. Early's face. Elise looked up at him to see if he would confirm what she was seeing. The doctor's smile was all she needed, and she began to let her muscles relax as she melted into the pillow behind her head.

"I'm . . . I'm married to John Gage?" He, he married me? I, I'm married?" Elise stammered as she kept her eyes locked on Dr. Early. "Did he have to; was that the only way I could get my surgeries?"

"NO," Dr. Early shook his head as he talked. "I testify that the marriage was totally consensual on both your parts. Everything you needed to have, in order to get the surgeries you wanted, was taken care of beforehand. It was while you were resting after the hearing that John came out and told us all that you had agreed to become his wife. You were married just a few hours later and I think that was more because he was afraid you would change your mind if you waited." Dr. Early joked with Elise as he held her hand.

As Elise let the new information sink in, Dr. Early turned to the nurse and ordered medication to help calm his patient down more. He then turned back to Elise.

"It just so happens, that John is waiting at the nurse's station, to keep from upsetting you again. I happen to know that all you've got to do is say the word and he'll be at your side until you send him away?"

John began to relax his muscles as Elise looked at the photos and began to understand that she was his wife. As John relaxed and quit pulling away from them, Roy and Captain Stanley loosened their grip but made sure they could still restrain him if the need arose.

When John saw Elise turn to the door of her room he moved toward her and Roy and Cap allowed him to go.

When John reached the door to her room he paused, to make sure she was alright with his presence, before he continued to her bedside.

Seeing that his patient and her husband were locked in each other's gaze, Dr. Early stepped away from the bed to make room for John. John moved slowly to the bedside and sat on the edge of the bed next to Elise as she watched him.

"I'm sorry," Were Elise's first sobbing words as tears streaked her face, "you must think I'm so horrible, to not remember."

"No, No," John cooed softly as he took one of Elise's hands in his good hand, and with his other hand, in the brace, he reached up to wipe the tears from her face. "I understand completely, we both knew there was a chance of some memory loss. I don't blame you for anything, I don't want you to worry about anything except getting well again, you just relax and we'll work everything out."

John so wanted to pull her into his arms but there were still numerous tubes and probes, not to mention a couple of loose pieces of her skull that had to be handled with extreme care.

"I love you with all my heart Elise, there is no one I want to be with other than you and there isn't anyone else for you to worry about." John spoke fighting to find every word he could think of to let his wife know how much she meant to him. "There's plenty of time to catch you up on everything that you can't remember right now, and some of it will come back as you recover."

John was stoking the side of Elise's face when Dr. Early stepped up to the bed with a syringe in his hand. "I'm going to give you something to calm you down a little more, but it shouldn't knock you out, just help you to relax."

Once the medication was injected in to her IV port Dr. Early pushed the chair up next to the bed and motioned for John to sit in it. He then looked at both of them.

"I am going to order another sedative to be given in a couple of hours and then I want John to get some sleep also, even if I have to order a sedative for him as well," Dr. Early threatened.

As Dr. Early was leaving the room, he could see that Elise could only see John as the two stood locked in each other's gaze. Then he heard her ask, "Am, am I pregnant?"

John couldn't help but laugh at Elise's question, but with a warm crooked smile he answered, "NO, not yet, we've had to be very careful about that until you recover from your surgery. I promise you that we were never intimate until our wedding night." John remembered well that that was so important to Elise, mostly because of what happened to her older sister.

Elise toyed with John's hand using both of hers then she struggled to lean forward and put her weak arms around his chest. John responded by slipping his braced arm behind her neck and lifting her slightly as he lowered his body to meet hers and then lowered her back to the pillow.

The two remained arm in arm for the next hour and a half, both totally oblivious to who was coming and going from the room. Until Dixie arrived with a beautiful photo album and placed a hand on John's shoulder to get his attention.

John and Elise with Dixie's narration managed to get through about ten pages in the photo album before Elise started to drop off.

"You go to sleep too," Elise mumbled as her eyes succumbed to the sleep that she needed.

That was the moment when four men, dressed in surgical scrubs, came into the room and took hold of John's arms. When he looked to see what was going on, he recognized the faces of Chet Kelly, Marco Lopez, Mike Stoker, and his partner Roy. Cap was waiting with a wheelchair just outside the door.

"I'll sit with her," Dixie spoke up as she placed a hand on John's shoulder adding a slight push toward the door way.

John was fed, then taken to a shower, while he was showering all of his clothes were confiscated leaving him only pajamas, not scrubs, pajamas. From there he was taken, by all five of his shift mates, back to his little closet were Roy forcefully popped something in his mouth that was small round and orange, then Roy held a glass of water to his lips, to help wash the pill down, Hank gave him a nice pat on the back and the object was swallowed. Weather John wanted to or not.

The five men then quietly talked about absolutely nothing while John grew groggy and then slipped into a very restful sleep.

"What was that you gave him Roy?" Mike asked. "I've never seen any sleeping pill knock a guy out so fast in my life."

Roy silently signaled for the crew to follow him into the hallway where they all huddled close for the answer to Mike's question.

"I don't know what it's called exactly; it came out of one of the gumball machines in the front lobby. It kind of looked like a pill so-"

"You followed Dr. Early's example," Hank finished the explanation with a smile on his face.

"It worked once." Roy admitted his deception.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Dixie stayed at Elise's bed side for a couple of hours, while she slept, but once she was awake her sisters began rotating through to keep her company. Elise woke long before John did and although she asked about him often she made it very clear that he was not to be awakened on her account.

Everyone involved with Elise's care, noticed the apprehension Elise had for the women who were sitting with her and trying to keep her company. During those times Elise fought sleep with everything in her, and her vital readings were climbing beyond where the medical professionals wanted them. Even her sisters realized that she didn't trust them. They also knew why, and voluntarily kept their visits shorter and never entered the room without Rachael, Uncle Milton, or Aunt Clara. They were now fully aware, that the choices they made against their sister's will were not the right choices. When they put themselves in Elise's place they realized that they would be afraid of them too.

When Elise had another mild seizure, and one of the nurses stated to another nurse, that she might need to be put back into a coma, while Vanessa and Joanie were still in the room. Against their sister's instructions and, with tears of guilt for their previous actions, they knocked at the closet door where John was sleeping.

It was a curly haired Chet Kelly that carefully opened the door to the women; as soon as he saw the tears in their eyes his hand was on John shoulder and gave him a gentle shake.

John was slow to wake, but finally managed to sit with his legs dangling over the side of the gurney and was shaking his head and yawning. When he heard Vanessa say Elise had another seizure John's head jerked in her direction, suddenly very awake. When Joanie mentioned they were thinking of putting Elise back in a coma, John was on his feet and heading for Elise's room, totally oblivious to the fact that he was barefoot and wearing pajamas.

-0-

Meanwhile the nursing staff, working with Elise, called Dr. Early with a report of the changes in her readings and the recent seizure. The nurses had guessed, that Elise might be stressed by the visitors she'd had and Dr. Early was sure they were right. He sent Dixie up to talk to her and report back to him as to what she thought was needed. Whether it was more medication, or limiting the visitors to only John for a while.

"Hey, my friend," Dixie began the conversation, "I was told, that you do remember me. Is it alright if I sit down and we talk for a few minutes?"

Elise agreed with a nod of her head and a calming sigh, as Dixie sat down. "So tell me what's got you so stressed out, is it your sisters?"

With another calming sigh, "Yeah," Elise admitted and her stress just seemed to melt away, "I must be really bad or going crazy, why are they being so nice to me now?"

Dixie could tell, the nurse before her, needed a good old nurse to nurse evaluation talk. With a smile on her face she started to fill Elise in, "of course their nice to you, that's the only way John would let them see you. Add to that, the fact that the surgery they were fighting has already happened, so there's nothing to fight now is there."

Elise sighed again, and the monitors showed that she was even more relaxed. "But why are they being so nice to John, I mean, I know he's wonderful and all but they don't like anyone, who has any ties to the reservation. I mean they really don't like anyone with any kind of ties to the reservation."

Dixie smiled and leaned closer to Elise, as if the two were school girls sharing a secret. "They've watched John while you've been in here. He didn't leave your side the whole time you were in the drug induced coma, and they've also noticed, that you've been calmer with him at your side. I think they're a little jealous of all the attention he gives you. I would have to say that John is using, that Gage charm of his on them too, and has at least for the time being won them over."

Dixie, at this point looked up at the monitors to see for herself, that Elise's readings were coming back to where they belonged, when she noticed John's reflection on the screen and knew John was standing just out of sight in the doorway listening to all that was being said.

"But what about Tom and Greg, they're not here are they? Tom wants some land I have and will do anything to get it and Greg . . . "Elise was starting to panic once again so Dixie quickly placed her hand on the woman's arm in a calming manner.

"Those two, more than, met their match in John Gage. With the aid of his friends at the fire station, they've both been arrested and shipped back to Montana. I understand, that Greg got off, successfully claiming the Dr's orders had been too confusing, but I know I'd, never hire a person who would make those kinds of judgment errors, nor would I have one on my staff. I'm sure he'll get what's coming to him, one way or another. As far as Tom Sulston goes, I understand he's working with the FBI, to help bring some others down, to hopefully cut some time off his prison sentence. If either of them even as much as set foot in the state of California there's a protective order to keep them from ever coming close enough to you to even be seen."

Elise now took two calming breaths as tears began to streak her cheeks. "How could I be so selfish? How could I do this to John?"

Dixie smiled and pulled a couple of tissues from the nearby box and dried Elise's tears. "I know that you don't remember right now, and that's very understandable, given the surgery and all, but you and I have had this discussion a few times before. I assure you that it was not selfishness at all on your part. I know for a fact that John Gage wore your resistance down and won the battle by getting you to put yourself in his shoes. You both agreed that whatever time you had left in this life you wanted to spend it together. I can also attest to you, that whether you had agreed to marry John or not he would have been right here at your side every step of the way." Dixie paused to smile and lock eyes with Elise. "And every person who has ever known John Gage is totally amazed in his transformation since you've joined him here. I have never seen him happier and more full of life as long as I've known him and for him that's saying something."

The two women shared a moment of thoughtful silence and then Dixie patted Elise's arm. "I need to get back to work but I know you'll be alright now." Dixie got up and moved toward the door, pausing to place a hand on John's arm and look up at him with a warm and moist smile of approval.

John moved in to sit at the bedside and take Elise's hand in his once more, neither of them cared what John was wearing.

Dixie talked with Dr. Early, who in turn talked with the other doctors on Elise's case and three hour blocks were set aside, on each shift, where the only visitor allowed was Johnny. It was the nephew Johnny, who was a smart aleck and claimed he was the one being talked about. But they all knew it was Elise's husband. Better yet, they had all seen enough of his care for Elise and the calming his presence made, that they made no effort to challenge the doctor's orders.

-0-

Whenever Elise was awake John would help her work on regaining the use of her weak hand by asking her to squeeze his and then pull against his hand. Each time she did so she seemed stronger and more in control of her extremities. He also had her pulling and pushing with her feet to build the strength there. These exercise sessions happened, from between every half hour, to every hour and by the time they were lasting nearly ten minutes, Elise was moved to a step down unit.

John sat at her side and patiently watched the different therapists work with his wife as they had her perform tasks, to help them establish a base by which to measure future progress. After each therapist left the room John would sit at Elise's bed side and talked to her of how good she was doing and reassuring her that she would get back on her feet real soon.

One evening JoAnne and Emily came together, with several photo albums to show Elise, the many events that she could no longer remember. While Jo and Emily were there John left for a while. He needed to get some things done before the construction workers arrived to start remodeling home station in the morning. Before he left John tied the handkerchief around Elise's hand, as Jo and Emily watched in curious wonder, and then with a quick kiss he left, promising to be back as soon as the construction team arrived in the morning.

Before Elise's surgery, she and John had explained to their guests what was going to be done and that the guest rooms would have to be emptied. The plan was to pile all the guest room furniture in a corner of the bay, and their guests where to be relocated to the upstairs training center. The crew from the station would be by to help him move everything as soon as they got off shift in the morning, but there was some stuff that had to be done before then, to make sure the construction team could get started as soon as they arrived.

To John's total surprise, after he opened the bay door, he found that his usual parking spot was filled with furniture. After parking and entered through the front door, he caught Jacob and Johnny helping Uncle Milton move the last of the things from the extra lockers, to add to the pile.

John could only stand and watch until they noticed he was there. When they stood to face with him, hoping that he approved of what they'd done, John could only say, "Thank you."

"Now you can get a good meal and a good night's sleep before the hammer and nail guys show up in the morning." Uncle Milton commented. "By the way, they called and asked if we'd be ready for them to come at 7 in the morning. I told them we would."

John made a quick run through of the building, to make sure everything was ready, before finding the blue prints he and Elise had agreed on and placed them where they'd be easy to find. He then called the station, to tell the guys that everything was done so they could go home and rest when they got off shift in the morning. It really felt good to be able to tell them that after all they had done for him, especially since he and Elise were married.

-0-

It was Joanie that was catering to John as he sat down to eat his late dinner. John thought it strange that the others had cleared out, but he felt some relief when Brandon hobbled in half way through his meal and sat with him at the table.

There was a strained silence as he finished eating and then the dishes were taken and simply set aside before Joanie sat down next to her husband.

"John," John knew something was up and was actually relieved that some sort of communication had begun. "We need your advice on something. Something rather serious."

Afraid to say anything John just turned his full attention to Joanie, with an occasional glace at Brandon, and Joanie began to speak.

The Doctors here have talked to us about a couple of fairly new procedures that might be able to help Brandon gain more use of his arm and leg."

"No promise," Brandon added, "Too much money."

Joanie waved him to silence and continued to explain, but John realized why they hadn't talked about what the doctors had told them before now. "It is an experimental procedure, so our insurance won't cover it. We only found one place in Montana that will do it and it is quite pricey. We'd have to sell the ranch and possibly our home to be able to afford it."

"To Much," Brandon was vetoing the program.

"I don't want to go through the rest of our lives together, wondering if this could have given you a fuller life." Joanie spoke to her husband, more than John. "Elise was right, if you don't take chances and make the most of every situation you're just giving up." Tears started to spill from Joanie's eyes. "Brandon I love you, and I'll stand by you no matter what, but I wouldn't be much of a wife if I didn't want what's best for you or to try and give you every chance to improve."

John leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and cleared his throat to get both of their attention. "I'm not at all familiar with the procedure and therapy you've been told about. It's nothing personal, but I'm sure if you tried to tell me the procedure you were advised to consider, I still wouldn't know much more than I do now. There's a lot of things that could get lost in the retelling.

"But, I do know that if it's an experimental procedure, there are programs that will do the procedure free of charge or at a small fee, in order to establish effectiveness. Now you have to understand that you will be a guinea pig so to speak, regardless of where you have the procedure done and I suspect, the place you found in Montana is actually less qualified to do it than here in California. "That said, I would recommend that you sit down with the doctors here, and tell them what you've told me. If you would like, I could be there with you, just in case I might be able to translate some of the medical terms so that you could understand them better."

John leaned back and let out a deep breath, at the thought of what he had just agreed to do, and for a woman that less than a month ago, couldn't stand to look at him. He also smiled at the progress that had been made in their relationship and realized that Brandon was very much an instrument in that progress.

"I do have to agree with Brandon, that selling your home and livelihood is too high of a price to pay when there is no guarantee of the results. I'm slightly suspicious of the program you've found, good medical programs just don't do that sort of thing, and there are a lot of other options to check out before we start making any kind of a decision."

John gave them a moment to think about what he had said, "If you'd like I can ask Dr. Early, when I see him in the morning, to set up a meeting to get a better understanding of the procedure and your options."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After another walk through of home station and marking the lockers that were to be moved, John went to bed and tried to sleep.

Two hours later he was walking the station again making double sure he hadn't forgotten anything. He was standing in the bay knowing that he should go back to bed but he wanted to be somewhere else.

"AAAH!" John jumped when a hand was placed on his distracted shoulder. When he turned around to see who had a hold of him, John found the friendly smile of Uncle Milton.

"Is everything alright with your new room?" John asked not sure why Elise's uncle was up at this time of night.

"Room's fine," Uncle Milton continued to smile. "I'm in the habit of pacing around till the aspirin for my arthritis kicks in for the night. Thought I heard a cattle rustler."

"Na, just me, not able to sleep," John admitted, "Thought I'd better mark the lockers that need to be moved a little better."

Uncle Milton turned his head sideways with a look that seemed to say, 'yeah and I would like to sell you the Grand Canyon.'

"Is the only reason you're here now because of those nail bangers coming later this morning?" the wise man asked.

John hung his head in thought then thrust his hands in the pockets on his robe and looked back at the man who was rapidly becoming a friend. "I should leave the hospital once in a while, I mean there's no reason for me to be at her side all of the time, and the nurses are getting sick of me asking them to tell me what they're doing all the time, but, , Yeah," John finally admitted.

Uncle Milton smiled, "you know, when my Carla had her surgery I felt the same way. I didn't stay at her side like you have Elise but only because I didn't know that I could and let the nurses buffalo me in to going home at the end of visiting hours. Never did sleep though without her next to me. It's a good thing she didn't stay in the hospital to long."

"Yeah, well me and the doctors have an understanding when it comes to Elise.' John smiled at his new family member.

"I meant what I said the other day when I said that Elise is just like our own child. I've never seen her so happy and I know that it's you who has made her that way."

"Elise told me that you and Carla took her in after her mother died. She credits you and your wife for making her such a good cook and teaching her all the native recipes that I grew up on." "I'm kind of surprised her dad let you take her considering the way he feels about, , well you know, the people from the reservation."

"He didn't." Milton responded with a bit of a surprised look on his face, "Sorry, I figured Elise would have told you. It was protective services that placed her in our home."

"Protective Services?" Johnny exclaimed. "No, I didn't know."

Milton could see the anger starting to boil inside the young man before him and he admired him all that much more, but there was some real family healing starting to take place and he wanted to make sure it continued.

"They placed her with us just after she broke her arm. I don't think it was really anything malicious or evil. It was just that her father had the dinner to run and was suddenly all alone doing it and trying to deal with his grief. He expected the older siblings to look after Elise and well, they weren't really old enough to take on that responsibility and that strong will of hers that made it possible for Elise to accomplish so much when she was older was a little hard to take when she was younger."

Uncle Milton guided John over to the sofa and motioned for him to set down before sitting on the other end facing the young man. "Elise would never tell anyone how she broke her arm, I think that was a major red flag for Protective Services, they were also concerned that her clothes were dirty and she was quite unkempt, the big alarm was that the doctors were sure the arm had been broken for over a week before anyone sot treatment and then it was a school teacher that alerted authorities who took her to the hospital to be checked out."

"I had no idea," John showed his surprise, "So you have no idea how she broke her arm?"

"Well, I have ideas, but nothing I can prove. I know that Elise and her sisters didn't see eye to eye on much of anything and she was left alone with them a lot. During the investigation Vanessa admitted to slapping her and pushing her down a few times but the doctor's claimed that those actions didn't explain the fracture. I don't really know how they do it but they said that the arm was broken by twisting it."

"They can tell a lot with x-rays," John explained then chose not to go into a lot of detail.

"My wife and I tried to keep them in contact with each other, took her to visit at least once a week, but I don't think Elise ever trusted her sisters after that. This stuff that happened after her big accident, I think she would have fought them taking control of her even if what they decided was the right thing to do. If you know what I mean?"

"Yeah," Johnny nod his head and turned a crocked smile of understanding toward Milton. "I don't think they made the right choices, but I also think that there were people with ulterior motives who were giving them some bad information."

"You mean Greg?"

John just nod his head affirmatively.

"Yeah, at the time all this was happening, things didn't feel right, I suggested they get another opinion, but they'd never listen to me. That Greg though, is some piece of work; don't really know why Patricia stays with the guy."

"Well that's not for me to get involved with," John exhaled, "I'm not letting him anywhere near Elise though, Tom either."

"Good for you," Milton smiled, "I don't know what Tom's problems are I used to think he was a pretty good guy, he never was all that smart with his money thought, I think that's where he went wrong.

"Look as far as them there Nail Bangers coming when the sun finally comes up, is there any reason I can't let them in and show them where to start and the plans?"

"Well they already have a copy of the plans, we've talked over what needs to be done they just need someone to let them in and then lock up after they've gone."

"Any reason I can't do that?" Milton repeated.

"NO I guess not, that is if you don't mind." Johnny smiled with gratitude.

"Don't mind at all, ain't no way I can calm that niece of mine any better than seeing to it that you are at her side as much as possible."

John smiled then spent a few moments explaining the remodel plans to Milton before getting dressed and heading for the hospital.

He was stopped no less than four times on his way to Elise's room but he wouldn't give in to any of their suggestions that he go back home till morning. It was around three in the morning when Johnny finally got past the nurse's desk to find Elise lying awake in her bed starring at the ceiling and she gripped her blankets in both hands kneading with her weakest hand in a deliberate effort to build control in it. The handkerchief that John tied around her hand was still there as she fiddled with the knot using her thumb.

John was all the way in the room and seated on the edge of her bed before Elise looked up to see who it was that entered the room.

She looked at John then at the clock on the wall then back at John. "Did they call you?"

"NO, I couldn't sleep." John responded.

"Me either, but I don't want any more drugs." Elise stood her ground with a frightened voice.

"Eess, it's okay, no one's going to drug you against your will again, Not right now anyway," John moved to brush the side of her face in an effort to comfort her.

Elise looked into his eyes as hers started to fill but she clamped her jaw down and blinked them away.

"John," she spoke hesitantly.

"I'm right here, just tell me what's the matter." John encouraged leaning over her with his body to look more directly into her face.

"Are we really married, I mean really married?"

John sighed as he understood what she was really asking, "Yes Elise we are married in every sense of the word. Our marriage has been legalized, solemnized and consummated."

The tears started to flow and John was confused as to what to do next. "Eess, are you Okay?"

"Yeah," she nod her teary head to confirm her statement, "I, I just feel like I should remember something so, something like a wedding night in my husband's arms, how could I forget that."

John could understand her feelings but he had no words by which to respond. He just continued to caress her face as he reached with his other hand to hold hers.

"Am, was I any good in bed?" Elise asked.

John blushed and smiled, "yeah," he finally got out, "As hot as they come." Elise began to smile at his reaction.

After a moment of just looking at each other she started to cry again in earnest. "Hold me,"

John carefully cradled her in his arms as she reached around him with her arms and pulled tight against his chest. The tears flowed freely for a few minutes as John rubbed her back. Once she stopped crying he set her away from him and gently rested her head back on the pillow.

When the nurse came in to get her morning vitals at the start of her shift she found both John and Elise in the same bed. John fully clothed and on top of the covers both sleeping peacefully. When given report she had been told by the leaving nurse that Elise hadn't slept well before John's arrival but had refused medications. The nurse noted the times for therapy and chose to let the two sleep for a while longer.

It was Dr. Early who woke the two love birds when he was doing his rounds. He had been concerned by Elise's lack of sleep and as he read the report of how she finally got to sleep after John showed up early in the morning he somewhat worried about his friend's lack of sleep over a long haul. Before he even entered the room he ordered that the most comfortable style cot be placed in Elise's room for John to sleep in.

Dr. Early had performed his exam on Elise and talked with the two of them about the therapy that was to come. After he left John remembered he was supposed to ask him something and excused himself to catch him before he made it to the elevators.

"Doc," John called and Dr. Early paused to see who was calling him. Seeing John running toward him in his stocking feet brought a feeling of alarm.

"Is something wrong with Elise?" the good doctor asked.

"NO," John stopped short, "I mean nothing that you don't already know about. It's her brother-in-law, Brandon,"

"John I've explained before that I can't talk about that case without the patient's approval."

"Yeah, doc you have, but the thing is they came to me last night for advice. See Joanie's been looking for a place in Montana where Brandon can get the therapy that you and the other doctors have talked about. The only place she can find quoted her a price that was so high they'd have to sell the ranch and home to afford it, she's willing to do so but Brandon says no the price is too high. And well, something doesn't feel right with me, I don't think they're understanding everything so good and I agreed to come to a meeting with you and the other doc's to help translate for them if you know what I mean."

"I see," Dr Early studied the floor as he made a few faces. "That would explain why they haven't gotten back to us about the program."

Dr Early went on his way but stopped back a couple hours later after arranging a time with the other doctors when they could all talk.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The first physical therapy session was sheer frustration for Elise. It had been established through other testing that Elise had movement in all of her extremities but she couldn't seem to get her right foot to do anything she was being told to do.

Johnny stood by her side seeing her frustration and trying to hide his own as he cheered her on. Neither of them had ever realized just how many little muscles had to work together for the simple act of standing up and taking a single step.

It took the first half hour to get Elise on her feet and even then, it was more pushing her there with her hands and with the help of others holding most of her weight than it was her own strength.

On the second session of physical therapy the therapist had another assistant in addition to Johnny who, along with a hydraulic lift, got Elise up on her feet while the lead therapist sat on a wheeled stool and manually moved Elise's feet and knees the way they needed to move to walk.

That evening after dinner, a dinner Elise barely even touched, Elise managed to throw her covers off and due to the nurse forgetting to put the side rails up she also managed to throw her feet off the side of the bed. Albeit she did have to pick her right leg up with her hands and move it over the side. She was just starting to attempt to push herself up on her feet when John returned from the cafeteria where Dixie drug him for something to eat.

"Where do you think you're going?" Johnny hurried to her side.

Elise realized at his question that she was way out of line to be doing what she was doing, but she also realized something else. "I need to go to the bathroom."

John looked for a bedpan but couldn't find one. A quick look out the door for a nurse found the nurses desk empty and the halls clear of all medical personnel. Knowing it was shift change and that it could take a while to find anyone to help Elise, John returned to her side and prepared to lift her and carry her to the bathroom.

"NO," Elise objected as he began to slide his arm under her knees, "Legs have had enough of a vacation." With that Elise wrapped her arms around John's neck and started pushing up into a stand. Her stocking covered feet slipped on the slick floor and she didn't achieve her goal.

Noting her determination John wrapped his arms around her chest then placed his foot near Elise's toes to give her some stability and something to push off of. Together they managed to get Elise in an upright position. John then moved around behind Elise and steadied her as she talked out loud through every movement her feet and legs needed to make. It was ten determined and eternal steps to the toilet but as John lowered her to her seat and she was able to release her held fluids Elise looked at him with a sense of accomplishment.

When Elise was done John thought to go once again to find some help for Elise but didn't dare leave her alone long enough to do so. Once again he placed his foot against her toes and steadied her as she pushed up into a stand. This time it was her own strength that got her on her feet and for a moment the two of them stood holding onto each other and looking into each other's eyes. Each one saw tears starting to form while Elise saw a smile of pride, John saw a jaw clench in determination.

"May I have this dance?" John asked jokingly as he took hold of Elise to help her back to bed.

Elise froze in her spot and looked at John. When he looked back it was as if a light had come on in Elise's understanding.

"Two step." Elise said, and John looked at her in total confusion. In response to the look on John's face Elise started a tribal chant she had only heard once or twice before as she bounced on her toes in rhythm.

John smiled in understanding and started to chant himself to override the inaccuracies in Elise's chant as together they both bounced on their toes and to their heels. With a rhythm to work with Elise found it easier to get her muscles to do as she wanted them. John watched her feet move and once they were both in the same rhythm he stepped to her side but continued to hold her tight as the two bounced back to bed.

John was just helping Elise to sit on the side of the bed when the nurse came through the door with Elise's night medications. "What do you two think you're doing?"

Both John and Elise looked at the nurse and smiled, "Dancing," They answered in unison.

After her evening medications were given John sat on the foot of her bed and rubbed her feet and legs while she practiced moving her feet and legs at her mental command. John then offered her his hands to pull and push against and after an hour of these exercises Elise was tired but she also drifted off to sleep with confidence that she would do better in the walking category tomorrow.

Dr. Early had been called in for another patient on the floor and when he was done dealing with the crisis presented there, Elise's nurse approached him. Dr. Early stepped into Elise's room on his way out to find John sitting in the chair at the side of the bed with his head bobbing as sleep threatened to overtake him. Joe stepped up to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. When John turned to him with a start Joe Early simply motioned with his head toward the door before taking a hold of John's arm and pulling him in that direction.

Once the door was closed Dr. Early began to speak, "We all promised Elise that we would see to it that you got kicked out of here at night to get a good night's sleep." Dr. Early kept his voice low so as not to wake anyone. "If I remember right, you made that promise yourself."

"But Doc," Johnny protested pulling away from the good doctor's grasp, "We made a break through tonight, she was finally able to make her feet move the way she wanted them to."

"And that means you should break your promise why?"

John opened his mouth to speak but found he had nothing to argue with so he shut it again. Then he thought of something. "But Doc, she's getting out of bed on her own without help."

"I'll alert the staff to keep an extra close watch on her," Dr. Early countered, "That's what they're paid to do."

"But Doc, when I got here early this morning she was just laying there awake, she couldn't sleep and was all upset." John shared another of his worries, "You can't just sedate her either, that's too much like what her family did to her."

"She looked like she was sleeping nicely when I pulled you out of there. If she wakes up we'll just have the nurses tie the handkerchief around her hand again." Dr. Early argued that one as well. "She's had a good work out today, she's tired, she's sleeping, now you need to go home and do the same. Johnny you can't help her if you don't take care of yourself."

Dr. Early turned to face John and placed a hand on both of his arms. "The nurses told me about the two of you dancing and working out on the bed after her evening meds. I'm sure that helped her a lot, but you can't continue to help her until you've gone home and refueled yourself. Go home Johnny and get some sleep. Do you need me to call Roy and the captain to come take you home?"

John opened his mouth to comment that the doctor wouldn't dare but he knew the answer before he let the first hint of a sound fly. He stood there in front of Dr. Early with his hands on his hips, he had no more arguments, the Doctor had won. "Just let me go tie the handkerchief around her hand and then I'll go."

John made short work of wrapping the handkerchief around Elise's hand and tying it without waking her. He then stepped out of the room backwards to keep an eye on her as long as possible. When the door shut he turned to walk down the hall to find Dr. Early standing there waiting to escort him to his car in the parking lot.

When John got home it was nearly midnight and he was tired, even he had to admit that. Slowly he made his way to the bed he and Elise shared only to find it covered with a serious layer of dust. The door to the bathroom was covered with plastic to prevent this but the dust had still gotten through. Too tired to really care John just pulled the top blanket off and threw it on the floor then turned his pillow over to the none dusty side and crashed. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

John was awaken by the sound of the air compressor powering up. He was surprised that he had slept so long, and realized that he had a little problem. The construction crew had spent the day before doing the demolition for the bathroom and in the dorm area and at that moment there were no facilities where he could relieve himself. There was upstairs but he didn't want to disturb his guests so John made a quick trip to a shielded area behind the barn where a quick shovel provided him with what he needed at the moment. As he was covering his deposits he got to wondering where the construction crew were going and decided to go find out. He walked around the other side of the barn to find a portable outhouse sitting there and felt a little foolish. Oh well what was done was done.

John made a quick inspection of the work done so far before he was physically placed in a chair in the kitchen by no less than three of his male guests and food placed before him.

Brandon moved in to sit at the table with him reminding John of the meeting set up to talk about his treatment. As soon as he got the information out the two boys Jacob and Johnny were asking questions clearly surprised that not doing the treatment was even a consideration let alone their father's stand.

John sat silently as the two sons proceeded to give their parents what for, declaring themselves old enough to be involved in the decision and proclaiming their help by getting jobs to help finance the treatment. When the volume of the declaring and proclaiming was getting a little too loud for John's liking he finally spoke up.

"I think it would be very wise if you all waited to make any decisions until you fully understand what is going to be involved. That's what this meeting in three days is all about, is for you to ask questions until you completely understand what is involved and what the costs and expected outcome will be."

"We want to be at that meeting," Jacob demanded as he and his brother stood side by side each with their hands on their hips and a determined look on their faces.

Through it all Joanie had become aware that her sons were no longer little boys and hearing that they were willing to help their father get the treatment was a little on the emotional side for her. Brandon also looked a little surprised by his son's stand but seemed to need some time to think about things, he changed the subject.

"How Lise?"

John hesitated to let Brandon get away with the change in subject but when he looked at the two sons and the determination on their faces he realized that it was just a momentary detour and began to tell them about Elise's therapy and the little break through they had had the night before. All the while he watched Joanie carefully as he told of using a tribal dance and chant to help her focus on getting her feet to move in rhythm.

There was surprise in her eyes as she listened to what he was saying but the distaste for anything Indian wasn't there like it had been.

Looking at his watch John quickly finished his breakfast then gathered some clean clothes to, intending to shower at the hospital, since his shower was not functioning at the moment. A large sheet of plastic was used to cover his bed to keep the dust off and the construction workers promised that today would be the last of the demolition and tomorrow they would begin rebuilding.

When John rounded his truck to climb in he was met by Uncle Milton who was handing him a tribal drum. "I assume you know how to use this thing?"

"It's been awhile," John admitted.

"I'm sure it will come back to you," Milton smiled, "You can't get the true rhythm without the beat of a drum," Milton placed the drum in John's hands. "If you need me to come help just give me a call."

With a moist smile John nod his head before shaking Milton's hand and giving Aunt Carla a quick hug and then he was off.

-0-

At the station the A shift was gathering for roll call. Dwyer was last to slip into the lineup since he had worked the previous shift and needed a shower before working the spit shift for John. Someone else would come in around evening to take over for him.

"How's John's wife doing?" he asked as he finished tucking in his shirt and straightened his uniform.

"Roy," Captain Stanley addressed his paramedic, "Why don't you update us all on Elise."

Roy took a moment to look at everyone gathered before he began, "She's out of ICU and their starting therapy to get her back on her feet, it will be a day or two before they'll have an idea how long that is going to take. There is some weakness on one side and she's having trouble getting her arms and legs to do what she wants them to do but that could get fixed quickly or it could take some time. She's lost some memory," Roy swallowed and took a breath, "This was not unexpected due to the location in the brain where the damage was done, but it has been a little traumatizing to her that she can't remember she and John getting married."

"Neither wedding?" Mike asked in surprise.

"NO, in fact her memory seems to stop the night before John and she were married in the court house and stays blank until she woke up after the surgery," Roy continued. "Thankfully she remembers being told that some memory loss was very possible as a result of the surgery and she has accepted it and is trying to move on. She's been shown pictures and has accepted that they're married and is just trying to move on and get back on her feet at this point."

"If she can't remember either of the weddings then she can't remember us," Marco put a few pieces together.

"Yes and no." Roy took a deep breath and thought his words through before he began to explain. "Apparently John has talked about all of us with her for years. So she does know who we are and quite a bit about each one of us." The bay filled with various moans and anxious noises before Roy continued "She might not recognize you when she sees you next but just introduce yourselves and give her a minute to put your face with a memory of what John has told her about you in the past and you'll be able to move forward."

"Do we have any idea what John has told her about us?" Chet wanted to know.

"If I were you Chet, I'd be worried, but I think the rest of us are safe," Roy answered with a chuckle.

Roll call was completed and the crew was gathering in the day room for a cup of coffee before beginning their assigned chores.

"Hey Roy," Chet summoned the medic's attention, "What's John going to do about her not remembering that she's married to him, Marry her again?"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Roy and Dwyer had a slow day but did take a young boy into Rampart that afternoon after he wrecked his bike, breaking his arm and his leg in the process. There had been a makeshift ramp at the accident scene that explained the how and why of it all. Once their patient was turned over to the doctor both paramedics decided to go up and visit with John and Elise for just a moment before going back to the station.

"Are you going to tell them what Chet suggested?" Dwyer asked Roy while they were in the elevator.

"I don't think so," Roy thought his answer through, "Not yet anyway, she still may remember as the swelling in her brain reseeds and she heals up a bit more."

When they reached Elise's floor they were directed to the therapy room where they heard the sound of drums and chanting before they found the therapist working with Elise to get her to step sideways. There they found John with one hand on her waist and another holding her hand while the therapist held onto a belt around her waist to make sure he could control her and keep her from falling if she lost her balance. A few feet away sat Elise's Uncle Milton; it was he that was playing the drums as both John and Elise were joining in with the chanting. The two paramedics watched in wonder as John helped his wife. She was obviously struggling and didn't quite keep with the rhythm but she was stepping to one side and then to the other and it was clear that those holding her were there for balance that she was standing on her own.

When they paused to give Elise a rest Roy gave a cheering clap then turned to introduce Dwyer, when he turned to his temporary partner he noticed his uneasiness at watching Elise struggle to do things everyone else takes for granted and does without conscious thought. Roy just went on with his introduction as if he hadn't noticed it.

"Tom here is Johnny's replacement this shift." Roy added knowing there was a chance that Johnny hadn't told Elise about firemen not on his shift.

"You're supposed to be on shift?" Elise turned to John with panicked surprise.

"It's okay, it's okay," Johnny started calming measures immediately. "I'm just using some vacation time while you're recovering from surgery."

Elise turned her still worried but somewhat less panicked eyes to her husband. "But if you use up all of your vacation time now you won't have time to take off for the firefighter's leadership training convention in the spring."

"Don't worry," John continued to try and calm Elise down, he was quite surprised that she remembered their plans to meet at the convention; it was something they did at least annually was get together for some training or other over the years since they met. "If it comes to it I can always juggle shifts." He paused and place one hand on the side of Elise's face while the other found a shoulder. One side of her head was still off limits to be touched for several more weeks as the surgery sight healed.

"You do know the real reason I was going to that convention in the first place was to spend time with you." Johnny talked as he held Elise's eye's locked with his. "Maybe we could go on a honeymoon instead," John suggested.

"You mean we haven't had a honeymoon?" Elise reminded them all of her memory loss. "I thought you said we had-" Elise paused remembering they had an audience.

"We have had some wonderful, and I mean wonderful wedding nights." John braved the audience, blushing a little as he did. "I was just thinking that once you're recovered it might be nice to get away just the two of us for say a week, maybe, and just be newlyweds."

Just then Roy and Tom got a call and then had to run for the elevator, as they waited for it to descend to the ground floor Roy was rethinking his hesitation to suggest another wedding.

-0-

Over the next few days Elise made rabid progress and was no longer using a walker. It was explained that it was likely that the swelling had caused most of the problems and she was regaining them as it went down and healing was taking place. Still because of the severe complications of hitting her head if she were to fall Elise was not allowed to get out of bed without someone at her side.

John knew that what the nursing staff didn't see could hurt Elise so he spent as much time at Elise's side as possible and when he did have to leave the hospital he made sure the nursing staff knew it and told them every time to keep an extra eye on her.

The day of the meeting between Brandon, his family and the doctors came. Brandon and his family were led to a conference room and while they were seated at a large table waiting for John and two of the three doctors to arrive. Jacob and Johnny were showing their parents a plan they had worked out to be able to pay off the program Joanie had information on over a thirty year period. Dr. Early watched the boys showing their devotion to their father but he also saw his patient shaking his head to all of their plans.

"Not burden sons, need plan own families, want grandchildren." Brandon forced his point across.

The other two doctors had arrived and were spreading their papers out on the table when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Dr. Early called out and the door opened and John stuck his head in.

"Is it alright if Elise comes to this meeting?" He asked leaning in a half opened door.

The three doctors looked to Brandon, "That's up to you Mr. Walker," Dr Early put the ball square in his court."

He nod his head, "more, marry," he responded.

With a wave from Dr. Early, John opened the door wider then walked around Elise's wheelchair and pushed her in the room before closing the door behind them.

As soon as John found a seat next to his wife, Dr. Early started the meeting. "Let's start with what questions you want answered."

Everyone looked at Joanie who let out a deep breath and started to push a notebook forward as she spoke. "I've been researching places closer to our home in Montana where we could get the treatment you talked about and I only found one. But the cost is quite, well it would require us to sell our ranch and Brandon won't agree to that where there is no way of knowing how much it will help him."

Dr. Wilkerson pulled the note book from Joanie's hands and with a puzzled look on his face started to read what she had written during her many phone conversations. "My Sister's new husband, um, John Gage here thinks there are other alternatives," Joanie added.

"NO, no, no, Dr. Wilkerson chanted as he reached the bottom of the first page in Joanie's notebook. "This is not the same procedure at all, this is an implanted device their working on for paralyzed spinal cord patients. I wouldn't recommend this for your husband at all at this point. Maybe years down the road when they've gotten some of the bugs out and only then if studies show that it's helpful in patients like your husband."

The notebook was placed back on the table and sent sailing back to Joanie. "I can see where you were mistaken, the name is very similar but the procedure we were suggesting is much different. It's based on the growing belief that the human brain holds many cells that are most often dormant that can be taught to take over for the ones that have been damaged. The proposed procedure would use a small electrical current administered by way of a pad attached to the outside of the skin. This will stimulate the muscles and get them to contract. Brandon has the disadvantage that his injury happed several years ago so we need to stimulate the muscles to counter act the atrophy that has set in due to non use. In the process we hope to show the brain that those muscles are still there and get it to respond by allowing other parts of the brain to start to control those muscles."

"As far as where you can get this therapy in Montana I have no idea," the third doctor a doctor Smith started to speak, "I know that a grant has been given to UCLA to do further research in this area and I'm sure Brandon would be a wonderful candidate for that research."

"But our home and our family is in Montana," Joanie began to protest.

"What am I, chopped liver," Elise commented. Then when everyone silently looked at her she asked another question. "How long would they need to stay here for the therapy? I'm thinking maybe a month to say four months and then they should be able to go home and just come back every so often for follow-up?"

The meeting lasted for over an hour as information on the research program was explained in ways the family could understand, John and Elise offered their home as a place to stay while they were in the area and the boys proceeded to try and convince their parents that they could run the ranch in their absence.

Also talked about was ongoing therapy they felt Brandon needed regardless of whether or not he participated in the research program.

Brandon and his family were told that he needed to work on straightening his posture to prevent serious health complications later on and that his family should be making him work harder to speak clearly and enunciate his words instead of letting him get by with the speech patterns he was currently using.

When Elise started getting tired John excused the two of them leaving the Walker family with a social worker to help work out some of the details and fill out application papers While John took Elise back to her room and tucked her in bed.

-0-

Elise managed to go a full week without a seizure and was walking around on her own with ease. Too much ease for some people. When Elise started trying to take care of the other patients the doctors took notice and decided a change of venue was in order.

John followed through with his promise to show her all of the private places where they could make out however he felt she was holding back physically and her frequent questions about their wedding had John believing that she still didn't feel married. Knowing that she couldn't remember their weddings and of her feelings about premarital sex, John chose to spend some time talking to the hospital priest.

-0-

Once he was given an expected date when he could take Elise home John made a visit to the fire station and spent some time talking with Captain Stanley before he was led to the common room to visit with the rest of the guys for a while.

"Hey look who's here," Chet announced his arrival. "Are you planning to start working for a living anytime soon?"

John smiled and looked around at the guys gathering to visit with him eagerly listening to whatever he had to say.

"I plan to come back week after next," John let them know. "I should be able to take Elise home this Thursday if all goes well."

"Hey that's great," Mike announced, "I bet you're so relieved to have all this behind you."

"Yeah," John nod his head with emphasis, "yeah, it feels real good to be able to move on now."

"Um, I don't know if you guys would be interested but before I take Elise home, Since she can't remember our wedding, well we decided to, Well the hospital priest suggested that we maybe exchange vows again, To help Elise feel more comfortable in our relationship. I know that you guys felt a little left out when we were married the first time and well now her sister's aren't going to fight us this time. Anyways if you would like to attend you're welcome, no gifts or anything this is just to give Elise some memories to work with. Um, if you know what I mean."

"I think it's a great idea," Chet spoke with excitement as he clapped John on the shoulder.

"I know we'll all be there," Cap spoke for the rest of the group.

"I'm sure Jo and the kids will want to come too." Roy added with an approving smile.

John looked around and started counting heads then counting on his fingers, "I think we'll need to find someplace other than Elise's room to do this. I don't think it's going to be big enough."

As Dr. Smith suspected the research program was happy to get Brandon as one of their subjects. And his therapy was to start immediately with the understanding that Joanie would be taught how to help him on a daily basis with a monthly check up and required tests then he would need to come back to LA every four months for a couple of days. This was expected to last for up to ten years but all expenses would be paid by the research program including some money for travel expenses. The big questions were, would the family be willing to constantly correct Brandon's speech and be patient until he got the right words out and how was Brandon going to respond to their constant corrections.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It was just supposed to be a simple renewing of vows, no hype, no fuss, no muss, ten minutes tops with a few friends around.

Trouble was, Joanie, and Vanessa had been planning Elise's wedding ever since… well they couldn't really remember when they first started planning actually. She had always been their baby sister and that was one of the things they were supposed to do for their baby sister as far as they were concerned. Elise had always felt like a doll in their care. Never having a say and when the fun was over left in a toy box and forgotten.

Fortunately there were limits. Limits of time to pull everything together, limits as to what the hospital would allow, limits to Elise's strength and energy, and limits to space.

The location of this simple 'renewing of vows,' changed four times in four days as the guest list grew.

Johnny was feeling the most self conscious; he remembered the other two ceremonies and was afraid that everyone would think he was being ridiculous at having a third. He really just wanted to help Elise feel comfortable with the two of them sharing a bedroom when they got home.

It was Dixie that sat them down and pointed a few things out.

"Look I know where you're coming from, I was there for both of the other two and each one served its purpose. Elise, I know you can't remember and there are medical reasons why you can't remember so you shouldn't feel embarrassed in any way. As far as John goes, let me refresh both of your memories.

"Your first Wedding was before a judge, it was legal and binding and gave both of you the freedom to pursue the medical help Elise needed as well as be together. At that time there was no promise of tomorrow and over half of the people in the room were holding their breath waiting for the judge to say, "Is there anyone here who can show just cause why these two should not be married?" at which point they all had plenty to say and all at the same time."

John remembered that day and the total chaos, the judge had ordered extra bailiffs on hand because he knew there was going to be a fight, Cap and his wife, who had dropped everything to be John's witnesses, traded cars with him to allow him and Elise to get away safely.

"Elise, if the truth be known, I'm glad you can't remember our first wedding," John added words to his thoughts, "It was really more of a brawl than a wedding, and the vows we shared that day were more of a business agreement of who was going to pay for what and who could sign which papers. That's part of the reason Cap suggested the other wedding. It started out as a reception to give all my friends in the department a chance to get to know you and come to terms with me being married. If anything I really do wish you could remember the totally stunned looks on my crew's faces when we told them. Both Mike and Chet dropped their coffee mugs and broke them that day, Three more coffee mugs got broke when the next shift found out."

"They really broke coffee mugs over us?" Elise questioned with surprised and yet ready to laugh eyes.

John just gave his crooked smile at the memory and nod his head.

"We should buy some to replace them then," Elise added with a hint of a giggle.

"Oh, we did," John added sitting at the side of Elise's hospital bed smiling and holding Elise's hands in his. "You insisted on it. The chief commented that we were supposed to receive such gifts not give them."

"Now," Dixie spoke again, she was running out of time on her break and hadn't said all that she had to say yet. "As far as this ceremony goes, your sisters have finally accepted John, and they realize you were right to seek treatment and defy them. Look at this day as their way of apologizing and leaving you with far better memories than the ones you lost. And don't worry; I'll be here to make sure they don't go overboard."

When Dixie returned to work John and Elise sat together in comfortable silence, holding hands and looking into each other's eyes and nothing else.

-0-

As soon as the doctors had completed their final exams and signed the discharge orders, Elise's four sisters invaded her room, pushing John out and locking the door behind him. Dixie showed up a few minutes later carrying a bulging sack and smiled as John was leaning on the door.

"This is ridiculous, we're already married I shouldn't have to be locked out this time too."

Dixie just giggled and stepped up to knock on the door. "This is nurse McCall, please let me in." The door was opened, Dixie entered and then the door was shut in John's face once again. The door did open again a few minutes later giving John hope, but they just passed the garment bag carrying his dress uniform out to him and shut the door again.

Since Elise hadn't been available for any kind of fitting her sisters had simply gone though her closet and found the most appropriate white blouse and skirt she already had. Dixie seemed to be the only one who recognized it as the skirt and blouse Elise had worn for the first Wedding. For the most part Dixie stood back and just let the sisters do their thing, she realized that this was important to them, she did have to put her hand up to stop the sisters when they started to place a tiara on Elise's head. There was still too much healing to take place before anything like that could be safely placed on Elise's bald but bandaged head.

That's when she opened the bag she had carried into the room, in it were a beautiful white silk scarf and a soft wide brimmed hat for Elise to choose from. Elise chose both.

Dr. Early returned to Elise's room with discharge instructions to find John standing in the hall with his clothes in his hand. He smiled realizing someone had forgotten to tell this young man when and where to show up. Dr. Early then led John to Dr. Bracket's office where he found the rest of his crew waiting. They were already dressed in their dress uniforms minus the coats for the time being.

Seeing John's confused state the five men he thought of as brothers stepped forward and began to help him get dressed as if he no longer knew how. And when he had passed inspection John just looked at his friends. "I never intended this to be so, so, so big." He finally spit out.

"Enjoy it pal," Hank offered a smile as he dusted off John's shoulder while Roy combed a few stray hairs back into place while Mike and Marco worked together to straighten his tie and button up his coat.

"You're really something Gage." Chet spoke up with emotion in his voice that surprised everyone in the room to the point of silence. "They say the third time is the charm, but I've never seen it go down quite like this. I know I've put my foot in my mouth a few times and said some pretty awful things since this woman showed up on our horizon, and what I said couldn't have been more wrong. It's long overdue for me to apologize but before I totally lose it, I want you to know that I think it's really something that you're marrying the same, pretty special woman, for a third time, now that's an accomplishment I never thought I'd see you make. What's really remarkable for you Gage, is that she hasn't kicked you out on the street, not once, between weddings."

The rest of the men smirked a stifled giggle at the prankster's comment.

"I really am sorry for the things I've said, I don't know what got into me and I couldn't have been more wrong about your wife. I just hope that you can accept this apology that should have been given a long time ago."

As a group the six firemen dressed in their finest moved to the hospital chapel, walking up the isle they stopped near the hospital priest who was also dressed in his finest holding a bible. Five men lined up on the right with the sixth man in front of them standing nervously, anyone who didn't know better would have thought this was his first wedding.

JoAnne came through the door with a bunch of hospital personnel and four children in her charge, Chris and Jennifer along with Cody and Tobes. They were all in their Sunday best, the girls carrying flower nosegays the boys pulling at their ties as they were lead to the front of the room to stand as still as they possibly could, which wasn't very still. Emily Stanley and the rest of the station 51 families followed soon after along with all of Elise's doctors plus several others who were in admiration of John and the struggle Elise had gone through. When the four sisters hurried in to stand in a line at the left side in the front, the tiny little chapel was full to capacity with people standing against the walls all around the room.

Jacob and Johnny came in next, Jacob carrying a guitar, he perched himself on a stool and started to strum. When Elise appeared at the doorway holding on to Uncle Milton's arm a bouquet of peace roses in her hands, the boys started singing the wedding song as Elise followed her Uncle's guide up the aisle and to the waiting groom.

The boys sang off key in a few places but they weren't really half bad.

John reached out and took Elise's hands in his and looked into her pooling eyes as they listened to the words that were being sung.

_Well then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?  
>Is it love that brings you here or love that brings you life?<br>For if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?  
>Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?<br>Oh there is Love, there is Love._

As John held tightly to Elise's hands and turned toward the priest waiting for the music to end he knew that above all else there was a love that he never imagined possible between he and Elise, a love he could hardly comprehend but it was more glorious than he ever dreamed anything could ever be.

It was a simple Christian wedding, the kind you've heard before a thousand times in every TV show or movie that ever held a wedding scene. It was just what Elise needed to hear, and John's eyes locked on hers was just what she needed to see. When it came time to say I do she instead said, "Oh yes, I will, with all of my heart."

When it came time for John to replace the wedding ring Elise had placed in his care before entering surgery and to pronounce them husband and wife, again, there wasn't a dry eye in the chapel. John bent forward and locked lips with Elise who draped her arm around John's neck to keep him from pulling away before she was ready. John then knew without a doubt that Elise was his, to have and to hold, for as long as they both shall live.

-0-_  
><em>

The silence in the DeSoto Car was peaceful and humbling as the family of four returned home after the 'Renewing of Vow's' ceremony. They were just about home when Jenny broke the silence.

"Mommy, how many times did you and Daddy get married?"

"Just once," JoAnne answered with a smile for her husband to reveal that she knew there was a lot more to this conversation.

"How come Uncle Johnny got married three times?"

Roy drove the rest of the way home and parked in the drive way as JoAnne gave the most age appropriate explanation she could to her young children.

There was a moment of contemplative silence before anyone moved to get out of the car. Then Chris had a question, "Could you guys get married again so that we could watch?"

Roy and JoAnne shared a chuckle that turned to warm smiles for each other as JoAnne gave a subtle nod to show her approval.

"I think something along those lines could be arranged" Roy acknowledged his son's request.

"Can I be the flower girl like I was for Uncle Johnny?" Jenny put in her request.

"Sure, why not." JoAnne approved before going in the house to start dinner.

The children changed their clothes and went to play while Roy sat at the table talking to his wife while she cooked. They were just listing ideas of how they were going to grant their children's wish when Chris came through the front door with the neighbor from the next street over, the neighbor who worked for the sheriff's department.

"Hi Roy," the man spoke with a smile and a twinkle in his eye that told everyone looking at him that he was fighting with all he had not to laugh out loud. "Your son tells me you're in need of a Justice of the Peace."

James Barton, the neighbor from the street over, repeated what Chris had explained to him adding a few remarks about it being about time they got married and stopped living in sin. Roy managed to make a few corrections to the understanding this county Sheriff had and in the end an agreement was made.

James would remarry Roy and JoAnne after dinner and then take the children to his house for the night so they couple could be alone together and then next week Roy could come to his house and remarry him and his wife and then take their kids for the night.

So after dinner the Desoto family got dressed once again in their Sunday best and gathered on their deck with the neighbor from the street over. Jenny used the same nosegay she had used for Uncle Johnny's renewal of vows ceremony and JoAnne was presented a lovely bouquet of dandelions with three daisies. The neighbor was due to go on duty so showed up in his work uniform, which was good enough for the kids.

"Now did you guys write your own vows or do you need me to help you with the standard ones?"

"Let's see if we can remember," Roy took his lovely bride by the hands, "I Roy William DeSoto take JoAnne Marie, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall live." The couple smiled at each other and gave their hands a squeeze.

"I JoAnne Marie, do take Roy William DeSoto to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold for richer or poorer, in sickness or injury and health, from this day forward as long as we both shall live."

There were silent and warm smiles shared then James Barton spoke again. "I believe this is where I saw something like you may now kiss the Bride."

"No that's okay," Chris spoke up, "We don't need to see the honeymoon part. It's too gross for kids our age."

All three adults in the gathering were holding their breath, biting their tongues and turning purple to keep from bursting out in all out laughter at the young boy's outburst.

"Come on Jen." Chris started talking fast, "We better get our bags and get out of here, cause I can tell by the look on their faces that they're going to kiss anyway."

The sound coming through the still open kitchen sliders was akin to a cattle stampede as two skittish children ran up the stairs to their room at full speed. When the sound stopped, indicating the kids were now in their rooms Roy, JoAnne, and Jim, could hold their breath no longer and literally doubled over in laughter.

"I do believe you've just been pronounced Mommy and Daddy." Jim sputtered out through his laughter.

The laughter continued on a bit longer before the three adults regained control that's when Roy took JoAnne in his arms once again and Jim made a slight amendment. "I now pronounce you a happily married husband and wife and a wonderful example to the rest of us in this neighborhood. And by all means you may kiss the bride; the kids are out of sight at the moment."

There was a quick peck on the lips before husband and wife melted into a second much more passionate kiss.

"I'll just drop the kids off at my house on the way to work," Jim backed away from the romantic couple. "I'll lock the door on my way out."

When he heard the door close Roy scooped his wife into his arms and the two newly-reweds headed up the stairs to their bedroom.

-0-

Several miles away at the Stanley household a house full of children had been sent off to bed. Emily Stanley hadn't seen her husband for a few minutes so she assumed he had gone off to bed too. She was just getting comfortable in an overstuffed chair with a book in her hands when Hank walked in wearing his robe and without saying a word held his hand out for her to take.

Curiously Emily took hold of her husband's hand and followed his lead back to their bedroom. Once she stepped inside she found several candles burning on each night stand with mirrors under them to reflect their light around the room. The bed was turned down and on her pillow was a single white rose, her favorite.

Hank remained at her side with her hand in his enjoying the look on her face as she took in the little surprise he'd been preparing for her.

When she turned to take in her husband she for the first time noticed the opening of his robe to indicate that there were no other clothing of any kind underneath.

"Hank?" Emily started but then couldn't find words for her question.

"Emily, I want you to know that if you ever wanted to have a ceremony to review our vows, I'd be a willing participant. Just say the word and I'd go through it all again. Any amount of pomp and circumstance you want."

Tears began to fill her eyes and a lump controlled her voice rendering her speechless so Emily just nod her head.

"Tonight I want you to know that, I Henry Bradford Stanley do take you Emily Anne to be my wonderful wife. To have, no wait, better words would be, to Honor, Respect and treasure as I hold you in my arms to offer you protection from all that will prevent your happiness. I pledge to hold you through good times and bad, through sickness and health, through richer or poorer, to offer to you all that I am for as long as we both shall live.

As tears of love streamed down her face, Hank reached up with his hand and wiped them away.

Emily swallowed the lump away from her voice and found words. "I Emily Anne Stanley take you Henry B. Stanley to be my companion through thick and thin, through good times and bad, through brush fires and injuries. I pledge to support you in your efforts to save man from their own stupidity and the stupidity of others. I offer you all that I am, all that I have and my very soul for as long as we both shall live.

The two came together in a passionate kiss that required them to finally stop just to breath. Emily slipped her hand inside her husband's robe confirming her earlier suspicions and it didn't take her long to match his level of clothing but not before she had removed what little he had on.

The morning after Johnny and Elise arrived home the pounding of a hammer woke them from each other's arms. Knowing there were still several days of construction to do Johnny chose to pitch a tent near the pond and that is where he and Elise relocated until he had to return to work. None of their guests saw them more than from a distance until that time.

Author's note: I never dreamed I would ever write a story with that many wedding in it. I guess I like writing wedding scenes. I was about to promise not to add any more weddings to this story when a few more possibilities came to mind. I will not make that promise I will however go take a cold shower. It's hot in here.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

John arrived at the station for his first day back. He was already dressed in his uniform and had four more freshly cleaned uniforms slung over his shoulder. Along with an extra pair of freshly shined boots he was carrying by the laces. After placing his load in his locker John moved without a word to the turnout closet where he pulled a freshly laundered turn out with his name on it and placed it in the squad compartment along with his boots. Now all he needed to do was find his helmet and he was ready to go. He pulled his helmet from the top shelf of the closet and took a moment to look at his distorted reflection in it. Someone had polished it in his absence.

"How does it feel to be back," a voice announced that Roy had walked up next to him without him being aware.

John pulled his helmet against his chest and wrapped his arms around the brim. "good," he paused with a distant look on his face, "It just feels, different somehow. I don't know if I can explain it."

"I know what you mean," Roy gave his friend a knowing smile and a friendly slap on the shoulder. "Don't even try to explain it. There's no words in the English language that will get those feelings across, either the person you're talking to knows what you mean or just forget it."

"How's Elise doing now that she's out of the hospital?" Roy asked for an update, "Is she getting any of her memories back?"

"Not really, she's had a flash here and there, she's remembered me with a black eye and when I was on my knees at Cap's house, you remember the time her uncle did the warrior ceremony with the eagle feathers." Roy nod his head affirmatively.

"Her hair is starting to grow back though, it's just about half an inch long at this point, just not along the incisions, we'll have to wait till it's long enough to cover all those scars up before I want to take her out in public. We've been camping out by the pond to keep her away from the construction crew and all the noise and vibrations they make. We've just done a lot of talking about everything that's happened and stuff like that."

"As in newlywed stuff like that?" Roy grinned and John blushed.

John smiled at his partner and friend, grateful for the understanding of something he was still trying to understand.

"How's the construction coming?" Roy helped John change the subject as Chet and Marco walked by smirking.

"They're almost finished. We just took the locker room and broke it up into three bathrooms, the master bathroom and then two for guests and those who stay with Elise while I'm at work. We'll probably end up designating a men and women's bathroom but we haven't done yet. Then the dorm was designed for the inevitably of women joining the department with extra patricians and only one person per section. Well we took every other divider out and then put privacy screens to the ceiling and walls all the way around making six decent sized bedrooms out of the twelve dorms that were there. They just need to finish putting the doors on each room; they should be done today or tomorrow."

"John," Captain Stanley called sticking his head out of the office door, "Ya got a phone call pal, I think it's Elise."

With a worried look on his face John handed Roy his helmet and moved with haste to the office where the phone hand set was laying on the desk.

"Hello this is John," Roy and Cap both watched the dark haired paramedic. Both quickly picked up on the suppressed panic in his voice. Both also watched all tension and concern slide to the floor as John smiled the most contented smile either of them had ever seen on the man's face.

"I didn't want to wake you up; you're still recovering from some very serious surgery you know." "I love you too. And don't worry I'll take care, you just do the same." "See you in the morning."

The phone was hung up and with a smile still on his face that beamed through the blush, John turned to the other two married men in the station, "She just wanted to be sure to tell me, well you know, that she loved me and to a, be safe and all."

The two other married men in the room smiled back. Nothing more needed to be said.

Roll call happened and chores were assigned, most of the men at Station 51 were seen stopping to watch John as he passed and each one had a smile on their face at the smile that stayed on his."

"I guess marriage might just be a good thing after all." Chet commented to Marco and Mike after John stopped by to place some more cardboard splints in one of the squad's compartments then moved on his way once again.

"It only makes you that happy if you've found the right person and for the right reasons," Mike waxed philosophical.

Two auto accidents, a heart attack and a garage fire later six dirty and soot covered men returned to the station eager for a quick lunch, when they rolled out into the bay Roy noticed three women standing in a corner and chief McConnike standing behind them pushing the button to close the bay doors.

"Hank, I need to borrow the office for a while." Chief McConnike only pretended to ask, "Gage can we see you in the office please?"

John was confused because that actually did sound like a request and since when did the Chief say please? Most of all what did he want with him. John walked toward the office slowly rethinking his day so far wondering what he'd done wrong. There was clearly some anger in the Chief's voice.

When the intimidated John stepped through the door to the office Chief McConnike simply pulled the wheeled chair away from the desk and motioned for John to take a seat, as the three, nicely dressed, women stood nervously on the other side of the desk. When John hesitantly sat in the offered chair the Chief finally spoke.

"These ladies have something they want to talk to you about," the chief spoke with definite anger as he slams something down on the desk in front of John.

There was a moment of very uneasy silence as the women trembled and looked at each other trying to decide who was going to speak first. John was just starting to register that the chief wasn't angry with him when—

"Well Velma said she'd have her husband talk to you," one woman started, "we thought for sure—"

"You couldn't possible expect us to reprint everything, that will cost hundreds of dollars," the next woman spoke.

"It's just the perfect place for the event, surely you can understand that," the last woman, whom John recognized as the Chief's wife spoke. "Herbert said you needed time for your wife to have some surgery but surely she'll be fully recovered by four weeks from now."

John sat in the chair totally confused looking from one woman to the other. Each one had said something but he still had no idea what so ever they were talking about. Hoping for some enlightenment he looked to the desk top where the chief and rather forcefully thrown something down to see a stack of what looked like tickets held together by a rubber band. He reached down to pick them up but before he could see what was printed on them the tones started ringing.

"Station 51 auto accident with injuries:" John didn't even listen to the address he was so confused as to what was being talked about in the office. Still holding the bundle of tickets in his hand he climbed into the cab of the squad and accepted the call slip from his partner. Looking at it he was unfamiliar with the address and opened the glove compartment to pull out the maps, dropping the tickets in the compartment as he focused on the task at hand.

When they arrived on scene they noticed a single car pulled up on the curb and smashed into a light pole. As they approached the driver who was crying uncontrollably what they saw made their blood run cold. A rear bicycle tire with training wheels was sticking out from under the car.

Instantly John was on his stomach inching his way under the car. "We have a gas line rupture!" he called back as he pushed himself deeper under the car.

"She's alive," John called back, "A girl about five, severe laceration to the head, she's lost a lot of blood, probable spinal injury, I need a back board and c-collar, get on the line to rampart we're going to need an IV. Hand me the pediatric blood pressure cuff."

Roy set the biophone down and started making contact while Marco handed John the things he was asking for. Cap started orchestrating the rest of the needed actions as Mike was put to work washing down the gas leak and Chet was directed to climb under the car from the other side to assist John any way he could.

Roy listened carefully as John called out vital readings from under the car and then relayed them to rampart. The treatment instructions from Rampart where then called back to John as he worked to get the girl packaged and ready to pull out from under the car as quickly as possible. The child was secured to the back board and the car was jacked up so that the child could be pulled out without doing further harm to her. Once the child was out from under the car the Ambulance arrived so John instructed for the child to be loaded declaring he'd start the IV on the way.

When they arrived at Rampart John had two IV's going and the child tied firmly to the board. There was no walking as John ran at the side of the gurney holding the IV bags high in the air as he ran.

John was needed to assist in the treatment room for some time; Roy actually had time to treat the driver of the car for shock and get her in the next ambulance and was visiting with Chet at the nurse's desk before John was released from the treatment room.

Both Roy and Chet looked at John expectantly as he walked up to the desk, his shirt covered with the blood from the little girls head wound but the look on his face told everyone that this was one of the moments he loved being a paramedic.

"Looks like she'll make it. She has fractures in both legs, an arm and a couple of ribs but she is starting to come around and her vitals are stable now." John reported to his shift mates as they all sighed in relief.

Since both Roy and Chet were ready to go John just looked at them and then at his own clothing, "Well I guess I better get back to the station and get cleaned up."

"Are you sure you want to go back to the station?" Chet questioned and Johnny looked at him in confusion then his eye's popped open wide before he raced for the squad.

John opened the door and sat in the passenger seat pulling the glove compartment open and retrieving the bundle of tickets he had deposited there before.

With Chet and Roy looking over his shoulder John carefully read the information on the tickets as his blood began to boil. Finally everything that had been said in the office before he got the call was starting to make sense.

"How could they do this?" John questioned but his crewmates didn't have any answers for him.

The ride back to the station was silent except for John's angry grunts and head shaking mumbling. When the squad was backed into the bay Chet was quick to get out so that John who was in the middle could actually blow at his intended targets.

He was also relieved that Cap was standing right there. He took a hold of John by the arm as soon as he slid out of the squad, "The Chief had to run for a few minutes, I've been instructed to let the women in the office stew and to keep you out of there until he gets back."

"Do you know what they've done?" John growled as he showed Captain Stanley the tickets in his hand.

"I heard," Cap confirmed, "I'm on your side for this one and believe it or not so is the chief."

"It is my house, how could they advertise the fireman's ball at my home without asking me if they can." John was guided to a safe corner of the bay and allowed to rant without anyone trying to stop him. "My wife has just had major surgery. Surgery that's expected to take the better part of a year to fully recover from and they want us to host this, this, something like this is too much for her, she doesn't even feel comfortable around other people without her hair and all. This isn't fair. They can't do this. Who do they think they are?"


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"This isn't fair. They can't do this. Who do they thing they are? Don't they realize this is my home their trying to just take over? Do they care that my wife just had major brain surgery and can't remember anything that's happened for the last two months? She's not even totally steady on her feet yet." Chief McConnike heard and knew the reality of what his wife and her committee members had done had finally registered with the young man. Even he was appalled at what had been done. Even thought he'd had a lengthy discussion with her about the fire station now being private property she still saw it as a fire station and not a home.

The Chief noticed the rest of the crew had the young man, who was covered in blood, the Chief sure hoped it was from a victim and that the young man hadn't done himself harm in his rant. Seeing that the crew was working with John Gage, Chief McConnike turned his attention to the office, noticing with pleasure the three women gathered near the door very nervous. One was biting her lip, the next chewing on her fingers. His wife was just beside herself but he could also tell that she was growing angry. He decided he needed to go put her in her place, and remind her; again, that she had way overstepped her bounds.

"He can't possibly be considering not letting us hold the firemen's ball at the station, can he?" Velma McConnike responded the second her husband stepped close to the door to the office where she and her upper committee members had been left to mull their actions over. "Doesn't he know how important the funds were raise from these events are?"

"You women still fail to understand that this is his HOME that you are talking about. He owns it, he and his wife live there, it is not county property any longer, you have completely overstepped your bounds here and since you don't have any kind of a contract with the owner of the property you are planning to use I don't think you'll stand a chance against that young man's Lawyer, and I happen to know he has a very good one." Chief McConnike was just getting started on a rant of his own.

"Did you even offer him any form of compensation for the use of his HOME?"

"Well that was part of what made the place so appealing is that we didn't have to pay to lease the place?" one of the women commented still oblivious to what they had done. "Velma assured us he was a good fireman and has always supported the Widows and Orphans fund."

"There are limits to being a good fireman, and letting a bunch of tight fisted women force a firemen's ball on him without any consideration, compensation or even permission, is well beyond those limits."

"Well of course we'd give him and his wife complimentary tickets to the ball," one woman offered. They still didn't understand what they had done.

"I'd think again." Chief McConnike spoke, "I suspect his Lawyer will advise him to leave you holding the bag."

"HE couldn't do that," one woman exclaimed in total shock.

"But there's not enough time to find another place." Another woman finally understood that there was a very good likelihood that they would be left in big trouble.

"What right does he have to keep that whole fire station to himself anyway?" Velma responded in anger.

The chief just turned around and stormed out of the room slamming the door closed behind him.

Taking a few calming breaths the Chief then walked over to the ranting paramedic and his friends, "it's going to take some time to get them to realize what they've done I'm afraid. I would suggest that you go ahead and shower up," the chief motioned to the blood stained shirt John was still wearing. "I'm going to give headquarters a call and get someone with a sense of reason down here. Hank is there anything you'd like me to get out of your office for you?"

Just then John's stomach growled, "When was the last time you fed that thing?"

"We are overdue for lunch," Captain Stanley responded, he too was worried about his paramedic and the situation he found himself in.

"Chief they're not going to force me to host this thing are they?" John spoke up as he was being led to the locker room. "I mean what about my wife?"

"Not without your permission." The Chief responded leading John to sigh with a sense of relief. "I told them you have a top notch lawyer that they don't stand a chance against."

John was cleaned up and being encouraged to eat his lunch when three officials from Headquarters entered the station. Looking the men over as they walked through the kitchen, everyone noticed when they found the name pin that read Gage and focused on him for a moment before moving on. John lost what little appetite he had before they exited the room.

Three runs and a car fire at a gas station later the officials from headquarters were found waiting for the Squad when it returned.

Nervously John slowly climbed out of the cab of the squad and stood at the side waiting for someone to say something.

"Mr. Gage could we please visit with you in the office for a moment?" Again that word please.

John took a moment to look over his shoulder as he slowly made his way to the office where there were no longer any women, his hand was shaken casually and he was invited to have a seat.

"Mr. Gage I want to be the first to apologize for what has happened, I want you to know that no one at headquarters had any idea that you hadn't volunteered your, Home, for this event." The first of the officials spoke.

"There are quite a few of us that were unaware that the fire station in question no longer belonged to the county." A second man spoke, "the department was put through the ringer of public opinion about that station before the land around it was deemed unbuildable and we had to abandon it."

"But our loss is your gain." Chief McConnike spoke up and his calm manner helped to calm John.

"Yes, yes it is," the first person started talking again. "Anyway let's get down to business. Under the circumstances it would be in our best interest to work out some kind of agreement to use your, um home, since all the advertisements have been printed and several of them already placed in prominent business settings." John stiffened.

"The chief here has informed us of your wife's medical condition and recent surgery and we do understand your concerns. What we need to know from you right now is, if we can work out proper compensation and make arraignments for say a nice suite in a Hotel for a couple of nights so your wife won't have any complications from this activity, would you and your wife consider allowing us to go forward with the plans as they have been made?" "Of course we would also like to guarantee that nothing like this will ever happen again." The man added as John thought about their offer.

"I'd, um, I really need to talk things over with my wife first. And we have some long term guests that we'd have to take into consideration. My wife's sister and her husband, the husband is receiving some experimental therapy for brain damage as a result of an accident years ago. We're also just finishing some remodeling to make the place more suitable to our needs." It was clear that John was just thinking out loud and the men in the room didn't feel as if he was trying to make a grater gain from the situation. "We honestly knew nothing of these plans. My wife just got out of the hospital four days ago."

"Yes we have been made aware of that, and of course your wife should be consulted concerning this matter. Would it be possible to meet with you and your wife at your home tomorrow evening sometime to talk about a possible agreement?"

It was a long night for John as he tossed and turned in contemplation of what to do. He was still angry for what had happened but the Orphan's and Widow's fund was something he had tried to support every chance he could. He had been an orphan and knew what it was like for kids when they lost their parents. John had even volunteered to work some of the camps they held for the children of firemen injured or killed in the line of duty. Fortunately most of them were injured there were only two firemen that he knew who were killed in the line of duty in his area but even that was too many.

Before he could convince himself to give in his focus turned to his wife and her needs. She might really enjoy the dance if she weren't still so unsteady on her feet, and John was sure she would feel self conscious with her hair still in the state it was in. Although she did have some very colorful scarves she had been wearing. No she'd never have the stamina to make it through the night and even if he did take her to bed the dance music and noise would keep her awake all night. Those dances always lasted until the early hours of the morning. Until sunrise more than once that he was aware of.

John was actually grateful for a fire in an abandoned warehouse that pulled him out of the thoughts that were keeping him awake. When they arrived the fire was well involved and a night guard told the captain that he thought a transient man had been staying in the warehouse for a few nights but wasn't sure.

Now any good captain would want to make sure there wasn't a victim if at all possible and since Captain Stanley was a good captain he sent John and Roy in to run a quick search.

The man was quick to find and he and Roy were able to scoop him up and hurry out through the mist of water being sprayed by their team mates. Once they got him to the squad and lay him down to evaluate his needs they realized it was too late. The man was dead, long dead.

-0-

When John arrived home the next morning some of his guests had all ready left. Vanessa and Patricia had left the night before preferring to drive at night when it was cooler and there was less traffic. Rachael and her young charges left the day after Elise got out of the hospital because she was afraid of the children being too taxing on Elise that soon out of the hospital. When John arrived home he found Uncle Milton and Aunt Carla loading up for their trip home. They would be taking Jacob and Johnny with them and would help them run the ranch until Joanie and Brandon finished the initial training for the therapy program they were taking part in.

John was able to say his good-bye's and was drawn into hugs with both Aunt Carla and Uncle Milton before they loaded up and started their long drive. When John entered his home with his arm around his wife he noticed that all the furniture that had been stacked in a corner of the bay had been moved back into the dorm area. After having the stuff stacked there for so long the bay now looked empty and much larger than it had before.

The smell of sausage gravy and fresh biscuits drew John's attention to the kitchen where Mama Lopez was placing warm breakfast on the table for John.

After wishing Momma Lopez well and sending her on her way, Elise sat next to John and nibbled on the fresh fruit that was cut up and served as part of the meal.

Taking a deep breath John stopped eating and told Elise all that had happened during his shift including the visit from the Firemen's ball committee.

Elise was just as stunned but not quite as enraged as John had been. She knew people just like the committee members back in Montana and as much as she didn't like their tactics she had to admit they got things done. She was guilty of going to them when there was something that she needed to get her rescue operations up and running.

Since both of them were tired, once the dishes were put in the dishwasher the two of them went to bed to rest for a while.

-0-

When John woke up he found Elise watching him as she lay motionless holding his hand. "How long have you been watching me sleep?" John smiled at her attentiveness.

"Not long enough," Elise answered with a warm smile as she chewed on her lower lip. "We still have the rest of our lives together."

John rolled up on one elbow resting his head in his hand as he smiled back at her. The rest of their lives together didn't seem long enough at that moment. John moved in for a kiss and when the two were done he knew for sure that there was something his wife wanted to talk to him about.

"Yes," John gave her a knowing smile.

Elise thought for a moment then licked her lips and started. "John, remember when we first met at that rescue workers convention in Reno?"

"Yeah," John responded with a smile, "The chance meeting of a life time."

"For more than just you and me," Elise confused John a little then continued. "Remember me telling you about all the fire fighters in my area who were killed when a gas tank exploded."

John rolled back on his pillow looking straight up as he thought. "Yeah, I do, that's why you were there to learn how to use the jaws. What's brought this up?"

"Well I was wondering, would the Widow's and Orphan fund have helped those families, I mean if we'd have had such a thing in Montana?"

John looked at Elise, "yeah that's just the kind of thing they do. Where are you going with this?"

"Well we haven't decided what to do with the bay, and we're certainly not using it for much right now." Elise looked at John trying to read his expression. "I'm sure I could handle it, I mean they're going to cater everything aren't they all they really want from us is the building, right?"

John looked at Elise in silence for a while and thought about what she was saying. "You sure you're alright with this?"

"Well, I don't like the way they went about doing things but it is a good cause that's worth supporting."

"Yeah it is," John lay back and looked at the ceiling once again.

"Maybe I'll be able to dance in tune to the music by then." John turned back at Elise and studied her face for a moment.

"But you're not up to staying up that late, you're getting stronger every day but you still need to take it easy for a long time yet." John cautioned.

Elise said nothing as John studied her over, "Alright as long as you understand that we'll be leaving early. Can't have your coach turn into a pumpkin now can we?"

Elise smiled at her husband, "As long as I'm leaving with you the dance will go on forever."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

When the officials from headquarters arrived at the home station, it was Brandon who answered the door.

"You rang," Brandon responded in his best 'Lurch' imitation before motioning them in with a wave of his good hand before reclaiming his cane and leading them into the bay on their way to the common room where the furniture had been placed during construction and hadn't been moved out into the bay again yet. Now that they were about to agree to host a big dance they probably wouldn't be moved back for a while.

While they were in the bay area the four men took a good look around and all four of them noticed the disco ball hanging from the rafters.

"Not exactly standard firefighting equipment," One man spoke to the others as he pointed it out. That's when they also noticed John helping Elise across the bay from their bedroom. Elise was trying to hurry and her steps were faltering as she moved.

"Elise," John took a hold of both of her arms to steady her before moving where he was standing in front of her, "Slow down and take it easy, there's no big hurry and I'm sure if you think about it you'll realize that we'll get there faster by taking our time than we will if I have to pick you up off the floor."

Elise paused and looked back at her smiling husband with a frustrated sigh, she then took a deep breath and, with him walking backwards and still holding onto her, they moved toward their meeting while John coached her every move for the next ten steps and then he turned around and walked at her side the rest of the way.

The four men took notice of the obvious love John had for Elise and also noticed the scarf covering her head knowing that she'd had to be shaved bald for the surgery and they understood even better John's reluctance to host the dance.

This was the most unusual home and they'd all been talking about the pros and cons and silly details of living in a fire station since they had been called in to clean up the mess the firemen's ball committee had made.

The actual meeting was rather short. John emphasized at least ten times that Elise wasn't to be asked to do a single thing for the dance. After talking with Joanie and Brandon their situation was simple to deal with. All they wanted was tickets, they liked the idea of dancing the night away and the bedroom they had taken on for their stay was the farthest back in the dorm area.

After everyone was in agreement, and the truth was that whatever John and Elise asked for was pretty much theirs, the head quarter officials were given a quick tour of the station and the changes that had been made.

"Now is this an actual rescue vehicle?" one man asked as he looked at the light bar on the top of Elise's little truck and took notice of the stokes stretcher and back board visible through the side window on the camper shell.

"Yes," John answered with pride, "this was Elise's rescue vehicle when she was back in Montana. She never knew for sure how far an ambulance would have to come so most of the EMT's in the area and herself always kept some of the equipment they might need for a victim on hand at all times." "Of course we'll park the trucks in the barn for the big dance."

"So you're trained in rescue work?" one of the men commented with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Yes," Elise spoke up before he husband could do it for her, "I received a good portion of my training right here in California at the Firefighters academy and John arranged the mountain rescue training he knew I would need to be able to do my job."

There were nods of approval and admiration of the young woman at their paramedic's side. Some of the men had done their research and knew she had been injured while trying to recover a victim from an auto accident on a cliff.

The men approved of the changes made with the locker room area and commented that the way the bathrooms were now accommodated the activity much better than the original design.

"With the amount of people who are expected to attend you're going to need several more fire extinguishers the night of the dance to meet with the fire codes." One of the officials commented and John immediately cringed. "Of course since they'll only be needed for the one night I'm sure we can advise the committee on the procedure to rent them from the department."

"Yes," another of the men spoke with a knowing smile, "And while we're at it let's educate them to check out those things prior to choosing a location for such events."

"Along with the proper way of getting the owner's permission," another of the men added with the same knowing smile.

It was quickly agreed that one of the rooms, the one closest to the bay area, would be used as a coat room for all the guests and that the rest of the bedrooms were to be completely off limits. The appropriate papers were signed and John was handed his package of compensation, and reservation information for he and Elise the night of the ball.

-0-

Mid afternoon the next day the Dance committee, all nine of them converged on the Gage home to make final note of what needed to be done. They had spent two hours that morning being lectured to by the officials at head quarters about fire codes and proper contract negotiations before the man spent an hour explaining to the finest detail the agreement that had been brokered after the fact.

Chief McConnike was with them and managed to pull John aside. "Remember it was agreed that you and Elise are to do nothing for this event," he whispered in the young man's ear.

John was somewhat confused but he swore he saw the same mischievous gleam in the chief's eye that he noticed in Chet's when a prank was about to be sprung. While the chief followed the committee around John worked with Elise on her exercises and together they took a few laps around the bay working on Elise's foot work.

At the end of their self guided tour, with Chief McConnike along to remind them that they weren't to ask the Gages' help in anything other than moving the vehicles, the women left with a list of things to do and an agreement to be allowed in the building, during normal office hours, two days prior to the dance for the final preparations.

-0-

Knowing they didn't have anything to do except move the vehicles and open the doors was a great relief to John. He spent the next few weeks finishing up on the remodeling. Now that the master bath had been done along with a large walk in closet, they were free to redecorate the master bedroom. First they moved the bed they had been sharing into one of the other bedrooms, and then they worked together to paint and add a border of wall paper and some extra plush carpeting and the place no longer looked like a gym.

Elise had found a beautiful bed frame in a thrift store that went perfectly with the rest of the bedroom furniture. With only two nights in another room and one seizure that was notably milder than any of the ones she had before her surgery, the two love birds moved back into their dream bedroom.

Most of the money that had been given as compensation for the use of their home had been secretly donated back to the Widows and orphans fund. A small portion of it was used to purchase the perfect curtain and bedspread combo to finish off the room. It had taken John a couple of weeks of calling and asking around for references but he finally found a dry cleaners that he trusted to clean the construction dust from he and Elise's treasured dream catchers and hand woven Indian blankets.

There was a slight amount of relief that they wouldn't be ready to pick up until the day after the ball. These were just items that were too treasured to risk someone thinking they were simple decorations and free to take, something that had been reported to happen in past events.

When they weren't painting John and Elise were working on their dance steps. Slowly and subtly Elise was improving, she knew she wasn't up to par yet but John didn't care. He had the woman of his dreams in his arms and if she stepped on his toes on a regular basis, so what, he was a big strong firefighter, he could take it.

Chet and Marco came around on a regular basis, to help out a little, Chet actually figured out how to hook Johnny's stereo system up to the stations speaker system, giving the place a wonderful sound system, adding the disco ball effects and they had the perfect private dance hall.

Chet and Marco stopped coming around as much once Momma Lopez pulled them out by their ears and educated them slightly on what it was like being newlyweds.

The night before he went on duty just before the dance John moved the vehicles into the barn and taking a slight amount of pity on the committee he took the time to clean up the oil deposits off the floor before he snuggled into bed with his wife.

To Elise's surprise the next day John had arranged for JoAnne to take her shopping for a new formal gown to wear to the dance.

Due to a phone call from Chief McConnike, Emily Stanley joined JoAnne and Elise on their shopping trip. The Chief hadn't asked them to go shopping but rather to make sure they were unavailable to help with the clean up. His wife had used the service of a cleaning lady for years and he knew several members of the committee used the same cleaning lady. Leaving them as the only ones available to clean for the big event was the closest thing he could do to assigning them Latrine duty for their actions.

Looking for a formal for Elise to wear was not an easy task; the dress with the plunging neckline she liked on the mannequin showed the scar from her chest surgeries, anything sleeveless showed the scars on her shoulder from the cuts she got when they pulled her out of the car. With her hair still less than an inch in length and still showing the scars from where her helmet penetrated her skull as well and the surgery she'd had, the scars down the side of her neck were much more prominent. Elise was getting more and more depressed with every dress she tried on.

"I look like ground hamburger," Elise complained, "how can John stand to be seen with me?"

JoAnne and Emily took note of all the things Elise seemed to like and since JoAnne had John's credit card and a note giving her permission to use it she purchased one brightly colored dress while Elise was in the dressing room along with several matching scarves. Working together the two women showed up the night before the ball with a beautiful dress with full and flowing sleeves to cover her arms and a slightly embellished neck line she hid her chest scars. Another scarf was made into a bonnet with padding and a bow that hid the misshapen skull and draped to one side covering her neck. It was not a dress for everyone but when Elise walked out of the room John told her how beautiful she was. Joanie managed to buy some scarves that went well with her dress and with JoAnne's help fashioned a similar hat for her to wear.

The day of the big dance arrived and John returned home from shift as quickly as he could get away. By the time he had arrived home three deliveries had been made, rented tables and chairs and the portable coat racks in one, the bar in another and all the supplies for it in the next. None of the committee members had arrived yet and Elise was stressed watching the men put things into place. To make room for the bar they'd had to move all of the living room furniture out of the kitchen area and it was stacked in one of the bedrooms knocking a hole in one of the new walls. When a box of scotch was dropped off the hand dolly breaking several bottles Elise began to seize.

John stayed at Elise's side till she rode out the seizure then simply picked up the phone and called the number on their agreement papers, that just happened to be the home of Chief McConnike, letting his wife, who was planning to get her hair done before arriving at the station, know that she was needed immediately. John then scooped his wife up and headed for the pond area where he could swing her in the hammock there where all was calm.

Around mid afternoon John brought Elise back to the station taking time to stick his head in and make sure everything was being organized. He then covertly led Elise to their room where she took a nice long shower and started getting dressed. Elise had already packed their bags for their night in the motel room. Her's was sat by the door ready to go but John's was laying open on the bench at the foot of their bed waiting for him to add his shaving kit and whatever else he might need. John started to go through the suit case when the power went out. The band setting up had blown a fuse and John's help was requested to point the way to the fuse box. When he got back to their room John just closed up his suitcase and set it next to his wife's planning to get them to his truck before the dance started but he was constantly sought after by someone for some reason or other and before he knew it the guests were arriving.

John hurried to get dressed in his dress uniform, customary for such events. Once he was dressed and took just a moment to make sure all the used towels were carried through the back door of the master bathroom to the laundry room, John went looking for his wife. It was a strange feeling to step out of his bedroom into all of the action.

Elise was found in the back sitting on a bench in the shadows and John shook off someone wanting to know where to find the bathroom to go to her side.

John found Elise down cast and trembling and simply took her into his arms pulling back only long enough to remove his jacket and wrapping it around Elise's shoulders.

"We don't have to go in there if you don't want to." Elise surprised John by saying; they had always enjoyed the dances when they got together for conventions over the years.

"I'm such a mess," Elise revealed the reason for wanting to stay outside; "I'll only embarrass you."

John smiled in understanding and tenderly took a hold of her chin pulling her face so he could look into her pooling eyes. "You could never embarrass me, there is more to honor and enjoy in you than in all those made up over dressed people in that bay combined. There's not one person in there that has done the things you've done or accomplished the things you've been able to do against the conditions you've been expected to work under. I am honored that you have agreed to attend this dance and be at my side. Now shall we go in there and show them all up."

John led his wife back into the dance and left her alone for only a moment while he talked with the band. The dance was young yet with only a few on the dance floor when John returned to his wife's side.

"May I have this dance?" John asked holding his hand out and giving a regal bow.

Elise placed her hand in his, "For the rest of my life."

Together the two melted to the dance floor noticing as they went that Velma McConnike was having a bad hair day. Once they were on the dance floor John took Elise in his arms and pulled her close as the band started the theme from Love Story, and John started whispering the words to the song in Elise's ear. The next song was Can I have This Dance, and John did his very best to make Elise feel as if they were the only ones in the room.

Many of the men from station 51 arrived and danced their way toward the couple to give some kind of a greeting. Roy and JoAnne spent a good part of the night staying close by for some protective reason or other. Surprisingly early a few of the attendees started demonstrating that they had spent a little too much time at the bar, some of them tried to cut in on John to dance with Elise but John just informed them that she was his wife and to go find their own date. When this was noticed the rest of the 51 crew moved on to the dance floor and they managed to keep John and Elise pretty well surrounded.

John over heard a few comments about Elise's less than perfect dancing and he was sure she heard them too. Still John danced on, whispering compliments and heartfelt words of love in Elise's ear as they moved around the room.

Brandon and Joanie already had the keys to lock up after everyone left and Joanie was looking forward to ordering the cleanup crew around and making sure they left the place as clean as they found it. John had planned to leave by midnight at the very latest, but by nine thirty it was clear that the loud music, large crowds and the hectic afternoon were taking their toll on Elise. He tried to move toward the bedroom but there was a large gathering of firemen in front of the door. It turned out to be the best spot to stand and visit that was also close to the bar. John changed course and went slipped he and Elsie into the laundry room. They'd slip into their bedroom from there and then out the side door to the trucks. John was thrilled when he looked up and noticed Roy and JoAnne had slipped in behind him. John left Elise in JoAnne's care while Roy followed him to help with the suitcases. When they opened the door to the bedroom they found someone had helped themselves to the bed.

John's blood began to boil, the couple was so involved they didn't even notice when they opened the door to the bedroom. When they stepped back into the bathroom unnoticed John and Roy shared silent, what are we going to do about this looks and John got an idea. Heading out to the laundry room and collecting a couple of long match sticks from one of the cupboards there John returned to just inside the bathroom door and lit the matches together to cause a hotter flame and held them to the emergency sprinkler system.

Now this station had been designed with premium features some state of the art others ahead of their time. Of course the matches set off the sprinkler system. They also set off the fire alarm and there was a light panel on the wall of the bay that lit up the area in the station where the alarm had been triggered.

With hundreds of firemen and 15 fire extinguishers on hand the bedroom door burst open and was flooded with dress uniforms in five seconds flat. If the Battalion chief from the neighboring response area and his mistress thought the sprinklers cooled them off the multiple CO2 discharges in their direction really put a damper on their activities. The man really knew he was in hot water when he wiped the CO2 dust from his eyes and looked up to see six of his superior officers looking at him and he was definitely out of uniform as well as out of line.

As everyone was staring each other down, John simply walked into the bedroom and pushed his way to the suitcases which he picked up and turned to leave. But he stopped short, "Oh I'll expect this room cleaned up and clean sheets on the bed when we return home." John emphasized the word home; he then stepped into the bathroom and made his way to his Rover that Roy had had Chet pull up to the door for him. JoAnne had helped Elise into the passenger seat and was watching her through a seizure when John arrived with the luggage. Maybe setting off the fire alarm wasn't such a good idea after all.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

When John pulled into the station parking lot for his next shift he parked but stayed in his car for a while. He had already been informed that he could be in trouble for setting off the fire alarm. Even though the sprinklers had only gone off in the master bedroom and bathroom everyone had been evacuated until it was determined to be a false alarm. Of course that made for a larger than wanted crowd around John's Rover watching Elise go through her seizure. John really hadn't thought his actions through he never wanted to humiliate Elise that way.

The problem at hand now was that John, being a firefighter, was expected to know better than to set off a false alarm.

Of course no one could ignore the blatant violation of areas off limits or the inappropriate behavior that preceded the setting off of the sprinklers. The higher authorities did their part to discredit the trespassing couple, they held them in the bedroom lecturing to them until after the guests had been invited back into the station before handing them their cloths and a couple of yellow rescue blankets, that someone had in their car, and then escorting them out of the building through the crowd.

Their bedroom hadn't been cleaned before they got home but someone, John wasn't sure who, pulled the mattress off the bed and placed it near a vent where it would dry faster. A delivery from a nearby dry cleaner just as they arrived home contained the drapes and bedding that had been cleaned. John asked Joanie to take Elise to the farmers market across the road to do some food shopping and made quick work of vacuuming up the remains of the CO2 canisters and making up the bed while they were gone.

The furniture that had been stacked in one of the bedrooms was still there, John called Chet and Marco and bribed them with dinner to come help him move the sofa's back where they belonged. It was decided to keep them in the kitchen area for now. John had intended to order something delivered for dinner but Elise managed to whip up a much better meal for the slaving friends. Both Chet and Marco were ashamed of their fellow firefighter's behavior and thought it was quite humorous the way John dealt with him. John was too worried about Elise to join them in much laughter and ended up pulling her into his lap and keeping her at the table while Joanie and Brandon loaded the dishes into the dishwasher.

John's memories of the nightmare weekend halted with the tapping on his window drawing his attention to Captain Stanley standing next to his car.

Slowly as a man knowing he was in trouble, John opened the door and rolled out of his car to face the music.

"How's Eess doing?" Were Cap's first words as he placed his hand on John's shoulder in a fatherly manner putting him at ease.

"She's settling down, they left the station, mostly the master bedroom in shambles. Chet and Marco helped me get things together again. There's still the hole in the wall that needs to be fixed." John reported before blowing out a deep breath. "I hope they don't plan to ask to use the station again because it ain't going to happen."

John looked down then back up at his Captain. "Cap I'm sorry about anything that's come down on you because of what I did, I didn't think things through, I was just furious when I found them in my bed."

"Don't worry about it John, the official report states that the person who set off the alarm is unknown, there will be nothing placed in your file. Off the record I've been told to give you a good talking to about setting off false alarms. Consider it given."

"Chief Bennington is a real piece of work, most of us referred to him as Captain Bedington for years before he was promoted to chief. His reputation is rather well known in the captain's circles. He had a sexual harassment charge filed against him a month ago; the department dismissed it but in light of what happened the other night the investigation has been reopened. He's currently on leave pending the outcome."

John looked at his captain and saw a comrade at the moment instead of a superior. "My guess is that the investigation is just getting started where before they just brushed the woman off."

"Sadly I suspect your right." Cap clapped his hands together in a let's move forward gesture that he was known for. "You ready for roll call?"

"Guess I better get into uniform."

"Might be a good idea."

Two shifts worth of firemen gathered around John as he changed into his uniform, all of them congratulating him on his method of dealing with the situation and laughing about the whole ordeal. The rumor mill was working full force and every time John met another paramedic at the hospital they also slapped him on the back as they passed by with a good laugh often only saying, "Good one Gage, real good." Occasionally you'd hear, "couldn't have happened to a better guy."

John just hopped they were talking about Bennington and not him.

The men were working together to put dinner on the table when the captain walked into the day room clearing his throat, "John, you have company."

John looked up and started to wilt as soon as he saw three women standing behind his captain.

"Hello Mr. Gage, I'm Madge Harper, the president of the women's axillaries, we're here to talk with you about using your retired fire station for our annual planning luncheon scheduled for next month."

"No," John said simply, he didn't raise his voice, he didn't throw a fit. John simply turned and left the room exiting through the side door and his crewmates stepped up to guard his escape while Captain Stanley offered an explanation. Disgustedly the women not only understood his stand they also agreed.

-0-

For the next month and a half John reported that Elise was making steady progress in her rehab, she even managed four consecutive weeks without a seizure.

John then showed up for shift and it was clear that something was wrong but John wasn't talking. Roll call included the announcement the Chief Bennington had accepted a transfer to Oklahoma to work with the fire department there.

The day rolled on as Roy tried to get his partner to open up. At one trip to Rampart John found Elise waiting for him in the emergency room waiting area. Roy gave them their privacy as husband and wife talked briefly, there was a sense of relief in his partner as he pulled Elise to him and held her tight. By the time John climbed in the Squad however there was a sadness that still needed to be explained.

Two shifts later John appeared at work early and slammed his locker door three times before stepping outside to kick a roll of hose ten times by count. He then almost slammed his fist in to the brick wall but stopped short and repeatedly slapped it with his open hand before pounding his head against the wall. Sometime later after his chores were done he called to talk with Elise, things sounded cordial from what the men could hear from John's half of the conversation but he was later found hiding in the dorm in tears.

After seeing his young paramedic in tears Hank sequestered himself in the office where he pulled a particular envelope from John's personal file and turned it in his hands a few times. Just what was he to do?

Hank decided he needed to know as much as he could about what was going on before he did something that he was sure would lead to a divorce so he went home the next morning and once the children were off to school he took the phone off the hook and took his wife out in the back yard to talk. Emily had been pulling a few extra shifts at the Gage home since some of the others who were trained were getting bored with the job. Hank had to find out what was happening on Elise's side.

Emily did have information that would shed some light on the situation but she was reluctant to share with her husband until he told her about the letter he had accepted from Elise. From there all Hank had to do was hold her in his arms and she told him everything.

It was explained that the night of the big dance John had forgot to pack his condoms and because of all the other medication she's taking Elise can't take birth control pills.

"Well after two seizures in one day John didn't want to leave her alone even long enough to go see if there was a vending machine in the lobby, but things still happened. To make a long story short there for a while they thought they might be pregnant and this soon after her surgery that's not a good thing.

"Of course you can understand the mixed emotions they both had when the pregnancy test came back negative." Emily explained, "To make things worse the Heart doctor advised that they never have children because of the damage that's been done to Elise's heart, he doesn't think she would handle a pregnancy well. That poor girl is beside herself; she wants nothing more in life than to make John happy and is beating herself up for not being able to give him children. I suggested that they might look into adopting and that seemed to help a little. John was okay with it and even thought they knew they'd have to wait a while he talked Elise into going with him to find out what all they would have to do to be able to adopt."

"So was Elise alright with all this? Did they go, where and talk to whom?" Hank grasped for more information.

"Yeah they went, they went to one of the county run adoption agencies, I don't know for sure which one but they were assigned to a social worker from hell. Elise was told she was unfit to even consider being a mother with the brain damage she has. She told her she might have a seizure while she was carrying a baby and drop it causing serious damage, and then she told John he was unfit to be a father because he was away from home for up to 72 hours at a time with a dangerous job." I don't know all else they were told but it was rather brutal. The doctors have Elise on anti depressants but I'm not so sure John doesn't need some too."

"Please tell me firemen are allowed to adopt children; I think their every bit as good of fathers as any other man, better than a lot of them that work regular nine to five jobs."

Hank pulled his emotional wife tighter to his chest and snugged her head under his chin as he rocked her back and forth. "I know of two firemen who have adopted in recent years. I guess I could contact one of them and ask who he went through. Maybe even get one of them to talk to John."

Hank continued to rock his wife in his arms feeling somewhat relieved that making Elise read the letter in his office wasn't the action that needed to take place. Emily was finally settling down when she raised her head to look Hank eye to eye and spoke again.

"There's more. . . . remember that special night you put together with the candles and the mirrors in our bedroom and all that romantic talk."

"Yeah," Hank kept his eyes locked on his wife with no clue where the conversation was going.

"Well," Emily paused and chewed her lip looking as if she were afraid of how he was going to react to what she was about to say. "You're going to be a father again."

Hank's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he took a moment to let the news settle in. "Wow," Hank finally managed to speak.

"Roy DeSoto too," Emily added, "JoAnne and my due dates are only three days apart."

"Does Elise know?" Hank thought of another angle to what he was seeing in his paramedic.

"She's the one who convinced us it was a possibility and took us to the doctor," Emily reported.

"So John probably knows too," Hank reasoned.

"I don't know but probably."

-0-

Hank puttered around the house doing chores, he was both nervous and excited about the news his wife had shared. His youngest child was ten years old raising this one would be like raising an only child. Between thinking about where to put the nursery and wondering if the baby furniture was still in the rafters of the garage and if it was still in good shape, Hanks thoughts kept returning to John and Elise. Finally while he was fixing dinner while his wife rested Hank took a moment to pick up the phone and dial the DeSoto house. Chris answered the phone and was clearly distracted by something finally yelling for his dad without covering the mouth piece.

It took a while but Roy finally came to the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi Roy, this is Cap," Hank started then took a deep breath, "We um, I'm thinking you and I should get together and talk, Em's told me some things today that kind of explain some of the moods John's been going through lately." "You name the place and I'll meet you there."

Author's note: My daughter just left for a week and a half long camp and my son has spent the day getting ready to go on an overnighter. My husband is working late and will be going on the same overnighter with our son something about adult supervision. All this cuts down on the competition for the computer and it's amazing what I can get done.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The chosen meeting place was an open park approximately half way between Roy and Hanks homes. There were picnic tables scattered around, where someone could have privacy without the music and noise of a bar, that would make it impossible to hear what each other was saying.

When Hank arrived he scanned the area carefully, when he didn't see Roy he went to one of the on sight concession stands and purchased two beers and a family sized basket of nachos. He then staked out and appropriated the best table for having a private conversation and watched for Roy. He didn't have to wait long before he saw Roy drive up in his little sports car.

Hank waved to Roy and watched as he got out of the car and walked toward him. He found it interesting to see that Roy looked a bit shell shocked and somehow he was sure he knew why. Roy joined him and sat on the other side of the table that was designed to seat four but comfortably sat two.

"When did you find out?" Hank asked as he handed Roy his beer.

Roy looked at Hank in surprise then realized he somehow knew about the new impending addition to the family. "How did you know?"

"Didn't JoAnne tell you?"

"Tell me what," Roy was clearly clueless.

"Our wives due dates are three days apart," Hank informed his paramedic and then shook his head in wonder at all that was happening at station 51 family.

Roy just looked at his captain in total confusion and then his eyes opened wide as he realized what his captain was telling him. "You too!"

"So my wife tells me. You didn't by any chance, have some kind of celebration after John renewed his vows the last time?" Cap guessed.

"Um, yeah. . . you too?"

"John and Elise did set the atmosphere that night; theirs is a love story for all times." Hank continued to shake his head in wonder and amazement, "Furthermore I suspect that partner of yours knew about our situations before either one of us did."

"How do you figure that?"

Hank proceeded to tell Roy how his wife had told him and before he was finished telling what he knew, both men felt both anger and despair for their young friend and his wife.

"I think I know some people who can help him. I'll try and give them a call tomorrow and get some information from them." Hank started winding down the conversation, "I hope to have something that will help the two of them before next shift. I just figured you and I needed to get on the same page."

"Yeah, I'm going to have to have a talk with that wife of mine." Roy was now able to shake his head in wonder and amazement.

"Just remember she's expecting, don't upset her." Hank advised, they both smiled before looking at the still half full basket of nachos.

"You must have been thinking you were feeding Johnny," Roy smirked.

"Well actually, I think, I was thinking that we were both eating for two." Hank responded. "Wow," he ended the conversation and there was nothing else to say.

-0-

The next time they gathered for the start of a shift, Hank was watching his youngest crew member closely. He could tell by the way John avoided eye contact that he knew he was being watched. When Roll call business was completed Hank asked both John and Roy to meet with him in the office.

As Hank watched he could tell that John was relieved and he was sure it was because both he and Roy had been called into the office. Once there he motioned for John to take the middle chair, while Roy sat on the corner of the back desk. Hank sat on the front desk facing John.

"John," Hank started and watched as Johnny tensed up. "Now calm down, we're here as friends. My wife has told me, some of the things, you and Elise have been through since the big dance. Heck you two have been through more than any one should have to go through, since she came to California and the two of you were married. I have some information that I believe will help both of you, can you just relax and bear with me for ten minutes?"

John looked at Cap, then turned and looked at his partner sitting behind him. He then took in and let out a deep breath and gave a nod of his head.

"First of all I want you to know I have something that I used to get my wife to tell me what she did, but I can't tell you what it is right now and I hope you can live with that."

John gave him a slightly distrusting look for a moment, then he sighed but said nothing. Hank continued.

"Okay, Em told me what you were told at the county run adoption agency, and I happen to know a couple of guys in the department who have adopted children within the last five years. I've contacted them and told them what you were told and they both tell me that they're sure that the person you talked to is someone named Edna something or other and they said to tell you that she's one of a kind, go elsewhere." Hank actually managed to get all that information out in one breath.

John sighed again and closed his eyes to dam up the tears building in his eyes.

"One of them recommended that you don't worry about contacting an adoption agency for at least a year from the time you were married. One of the men I know gave me this booklet to give to you, it's full of information that you need to know to prepare to adopt and it deals with both what they call domestic and foreign adoptions."

John willingly accepted the book that was offered to him and hank could see that he was both grateful and fearful.

"I've also had the opportunity to speak with my priest while I was off shift these last few days and among other things we talked a little about you. I hope you're not offended, but I needed to get some of the stuff I was feeling off my chest before I wound up punching someone."

John sighed again and nodded his head to show understanding, but he still didn't say a word.

"Now I know you're not really religious but he gave me this pamphlet that addresses some things you can do to help with you're and Elise's relationship, while you're waiting to be able to adopt. I've read through it and it's really not preaching, it has a lot of good suggestions that might help you and Elise to talk things over. And while he was talking to me, he also gave me this book on natural birth control methods. I don't know if you're interested but you can throw them in the trash just as easily as I can."

When John reached forward to accept the two books Hank was handing him, he saw his hand was shaking and he was swallowing hard. Sensing John was ready and willing to say something Hank took a moment to be quiet and catch his breath.

John sniffed then swallowed once again and leaned forward in his chair slightly. "After the Doctor told us how dangerous it would be if Elise got pregnant, we talked about doing something permanently as far as birth control goes.

"You mean like a vasectomy?" Hank then bit his tongue reminding himself that he couldn't impose his religious beliefs on his men.

"Yeah, we talked about it but Elise doesn't want me to do that, she says because it's her problem she should be the one to have tubes tied off."

John's lips quivered and his voice failed for a few minutes, at which point Roy and Hank each placed a hand on a shoulder and gave it a squeeze loaning John the strength he needed to continue. "We talked with Dr. Early yesterday and he said that before we do anything permanently we should wait a year and then talk about this then, after she's had adequate time to recover from her injuries completely. Meanwhile we do need to be very careful . . . not to let anything happen. So if this book has the information in it that I suspect it does, I thank you. Thank your priest for me too, would you. I'm sorry I've made you feel like punching someone."

"You're not the one who's made me feel like doing the punching John; those feelings are for other people we all know." Hank smiled and with two more squeezes of John's shoulder Hank had one more thing to talk about.

"One more thing John," Hank sat up straight and started with a deep breath, "there is something going on in Roy and my families that I strongly suspect you knew about before we did."

John once again looked at both of the men in the room with him and a grin spread on his face. "So it is true," John paused as he looked at each of his friends again and his smile grew larger, "I guess you guys really do fool around from time to time."

"John I just have to know," Roy spoke up for the first time with a laugh in his voice. "I just have to know when you knew?"

John continued to smile but he also started to blush, "Well um, Elise was asking me if I knew anything that night, well just before she told me we might be um, expecting. Anyway I didn't know anything at the time but I started watching JoAnne and Emily, it was kind of obvious when you were looking for it. I figured you'd tell me for sure when you were ready for me to know."

"Well partner I just found out two days ago." Roy laughed and continued to shake his head.

"Me too and believe me I was speechless for a while." Hank added. "We didn't want you to think that we were hiding anything from you, and we also hope this isn't making things harder on you and Elise."

"Na, not really, Elise wouldn't tell me one way or another, but I knew they all went in to get pregnancy tests together and I was pretty sure by the look in Elise's face that things were . . . .um Yeah, it looks like there's a baby boom at hand."

"Yeah well I do hope you're willing to take your share of the blame for this baby boom, as you call it." Hank playfully scuffed the hair on John's head, "it was that romantic feel in the air you and Elise created during your most recent wedding that led to all of this you know."

"You're kidding me . . . . right?" John looked genuinely surprised.

"Don't think so Junior, why else would our two due dates be only three days apart." Roy added his smile and a hint of laughter.

When John left the office, he had Roy's arm around his shoulder and cap tousling his hair. He was holding some books that pecked the Phantom's curiosity, but most of all he looked as if he had left the weight of the world behind him in the office and for that the rest of the crew were grateful.

Hank and Roy did get together later in the shift to talk about sharing their news with the rest of the crew. Hank really felt he should talk with his teen aged children before letting the crew know. Roy didn't plan to tell his kids until JoAnne was showing and they started asking questions, but waiting till the next shift to spill the beans to the rest of the crew was just fine with him. That is if John could keep it under wraps that long. So far since they had confirmed his suspicions every time he looked at them he smirked. It was very clear to everyone that he knew something and there were three men in the station who didn't.

John spent a lot of quiet time in a secluded corner of the station. Whenever Roy or Hank went to look for him they found him reading the material that had been given to him and both felt that he looked calmer every time they saw him. Gratefully, either the Phantom didn't know what he was reading or chose to be decent for a change and didn't bug him about it.

-0-

John spent nearly the entire end of the shift on the phone, or at least it felt like it. Chet tried to inch his way closer a few times but each time found a hand on his arm pulling him away. For his part John was deliberately speaking very softly. It was a wonder Elise could hear him on the other end.

Once he was released, John grabbed his books and ran for his car, without taking time to change out of his uniform.

At home there were good-byes waiting. Brandon and Joanie were heading home. They now owned the electrical stimulator that Brandon used daily to help strengthen muscles and he had managed to learn to stand straighter and his previously useless arm was now able to rise under its own power and if he could hook a handle Brandon could use it to open cupboard doors and drawers. They were both looking forward to showing their boys the improvements. And looking forward to just seeing their boys again.

Joanie gave John a good-bye hug, then pulled back and just stood before him fighting with emotions before being able to say something she knew she should have said a long time ago. "I've learned a lot of things during the time you've allowed us to stay here. First of all, my baby sister is all grown up now, and that she's pretty smart and knows what she wants. But the most important thing I've learned is that she's right. When I look back on her life before she came here, I realize that if we had just listened more often things would have been better." She had to pause and wipe some moisture from her eyes, "Thank you for accepting me, in spite of my bigotry; you are surely a bigger man, person than I am, and now I'm a better person because of you. Thank you. And thank you for all that you've done to help my husband.

"They say you can't choose your family, but in a way I did choose you. We had our moments, but it's all worked out in the end. I hope you know that you're welcome here whenever you come for your checkups or any other time you're in the neighborhood."

Whatever are you going to do with that place?" Joanie shook her head, for just the two of you it's so big. And all those bedrooms, Joanie couldn't finish she just shook her head and smiled.

"Well," John draped his arm around Elise's shoulder and pulled her close to him, "That's something Elise and I are going to have to talk over, it's hard to say what the two of us might come up with."

Joanie smiled and move to the side to allow her husband to say his good-bye, Brandon started by showing off and lifting his once useless arm up and patting John around the head as if he were looking for lumps. He did stop and focus on a couple of spots before speaking. "You n-need get file out, a for poke holes in helmet."

Both men laughed and John shook his head, he had to admit he hadn't been very diligent in correcting Brandon's speech for him, but he had improved in spite of John's inattention. Brandon offered his hand to shake but John took it and pulled him into a hug, slapping his back.

"You keep up the hard work and one day you just may forget you've had a head injury." John challenged as he helped Brandon up the steps of their converted bus.

"Keep in touch," Elise called out with tears in her eyes.

"Drive safely," John offered and the doors were closed, the engine started and while John and Elise stood arm in arm waving, the bus pulled out and started down the road.

John led Elise back into their home to find Mamma Lopez waiting to make sure it was safe to leave. John saw her out then returned to a breakfast kept warm, that he shared with Elise while they talked. Between bites John talked about what he had been told by his Captain and some of the information he found in the books he had been given that he thought would help. It was actually early afternoon before they finished their breakfast but they both felt better. John needed a nap and so did Elise so the dishes were left this once and the two made their way to the bedroom.

When John seemed to be having trouble getting comfortable Elise coaxed him to roll onto his stomach and started giving him a back rub. That did the trick and Elise felt better for being able to help John relax.

When John woke up a few hours later he found his wife in a chair at the side of the bed reading the book about relationships.

John rolled over in bed and reached out to take Elise's hand in his. After a moment of toying with fingers John found the words he wanted to say to Elise. "I am going to make it my goal to never let you forget how much I love you, How happy I feel to be with you, when you hurt I hurt but together we have gotten through some pretty serious stuff and I believe there is nothing in our future that we can't get through together."

John threw his feet over the side of the bed and took both of Elise's hands in his. "I can't help but feel that Dr. Early believes there's a chance that after you've healed up all the way that we just might be able to have children of our own. Either way, a year isn't that long to wait," John stopped looking at Elise, hoping she was feeling some hope in his words.

"We made it this far without kids, what's another year." Elise responded.

"While I was reading this I was thinking that I should visit with my, our lawyer and get back up to speed on all these properties I seem to own. I think it will help me to have something to do while you're at work."

John nod his head. One of the other issues he knew Elise was struggling with was the disability insurance stand that if she could go back to work in the medical field she was no longer disabled and no longer entitled to the funds to continue her rehabilitation and future medical needs. Dixie had told John privately that she was sure something could be worked out but that he needed to make Elise understand that she needed to just ride out a couple of years first. John was hoping that Elise could use her way with real estate to help her ride out the time.

Both John and Elise found themselves looking around and listening.

"It sure is quiet around here now that we're all alone," John commented feeling mixed emotions about that thought. "What are we going to do with this place?"

The two talked a while about a lengthy letter Elise had received from her uncle Milton and the attention was drawn to the empty barn.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

John and Elise showed up at the horse breeder, with the paperwork that had been given them as a wedding gift and a horse trailer in tow.

Elise's hair had grown out enough that she had been able to have it trimmed into a nice short style and she no longer needed a scarf or hat to hide her head. She was walking without difficulty most of the time, but when she got tired there was a noticeable stutter step and slight limp.

John parked, helped Elise out of the car and the two of them walked hand in hand into the office. It was explained to John that the herd had been rather picked over but that there were still some good horses out there. Elise just looked at her husband with a smile, "this is your area of expertise. I can pick out a good beef steer from a mile away but Horses all look wonderful to me."

First off, John noticed the horses were all a little restless and knowing the one he would choose would still need to be trained and broke for riding, John suggested that Elise remain on the outside of the corral while he went in with the manager.

John had narrowed his choice down to three horses and demonstrating his roping ability, he got a rope around each of their necks and pulled them toward the outer fence, where he wanted Elise to help him make the final choice. When he couldn't find Elise, he asked one of the hired hands where she had gone. John was lead to the stables, where he could see from a distance that Elise was on the ground with the head of a small Colt in her lap, coaxing it to drink from a bottle.

"The mother rejected that little guy," the ranch hand explained, "We haven't been able to get him to eat anything. The owner is just waiting for the vet to come and put him down before he starves to death."

John watched the tender and loving way Elise was stroking the colts neck and talking to him as she held the bottle. He also noticed she was having success in getting the little thing to eat.

John knew very well of the time and attention that young colt was going to require for the next three to four months if it were to survive, was more than any ranch of this size was have the time and manpower to give. But-

When John saw a jeep pull in with the Vet's contact information on the door, he did some quick talking. When a deal was made John walked into the stables and stuck his head through the rails to give Elise a kiss on the cheek.

Elise turned toward her husband with a smile on her face, and then started to chew her lower lip with her teeth. "Can I have a Poon-ny?" She asked in the most childish voice she could produce.

John explained the importance of getting the colt up and walking and helped Elise to get him on his feet, then she led the little guy around and out of the stables. John pointed out the three horses he had narrowed the choice down to and from a distance Elise suggested a chestnut filly with white patches on her rump. John just looked at his wife with wonder and growing love as that was the same horse he was partial to.

While Elise kept the colt moving, John worked on calming the filly down enough to get her loaded in the horse trailer. He had help but it still took long enough that by the time he had her secured in her stall and some straw placed in the other stall for the colt, the colt was too tired to move.

John just wrapped his arms around all four of the colt's legs and hoisted him up off the ground, carrying him to the trailer and settling him in the second stall. It was a good thing there was a solid partition between the two horses, because the yearling filly didn't like the younger male.

"Are you sure he's going to be alright in there?" Elise questioned as John closed the back hatch.

"He'll be fine till we get him home. But I think we need to keep the two of them at opposite ends of the barn, until they get used to each other." John smiled at Elise as he took her by the hand again and led her to the passenger side of the Rover. John was sure this was just what Elise needed, someone or something to care for, to be needed.

-0-

Having heard about the horses, Roy and his family came out the night, before going back on shift. It was JoAnne's turn to watch after Elise and the Children were out of school so it was agreed that they could come the night before and stay over. The kids were always eager to sleep at the fire station, even if they didn't get woke up in the middle of the night by a fire alarm. (John was going to talk to his partner about pulling a fire drill while they were there but not with new horses that would be too easily spooked.) Now that there was a tiny Pony to see too, they were even more excited.

John must have told them fifty times, to be sure to stay away from the bigger horse, because she was still frightened in her new home and was big enough to hurt the children seriously.

John and Elise worked together to tell the children a bedtime story and actually got them to sleep before Elise went out to do the last feeding of the day.

John and Roy leaned on the fence rails as they watched the young colt follow Elise around the smaller corral.

"Mary may have had a little lamb, but Elise has a little pony." John chuckled as he watched with a smile on his face.

"I want to thank you and Cap for all the information you gathered for the two of us, as you can see it's really helped."

"Cap gets most of the credit," Roy acknowledged. "Johnny, about this taking care of Elise, Um, well when the baby get's here—"Roy started breaching the upcoming need for JoAnne to hand in her resignation.

"Elise and I have talked about that." John spoke to his friend without taking his eyes off his wife as she led the young colt back to his stable. "There's some things we have to check into," John continued to keep his eyes on Elise until she was out of sight then he turned to face his friend. "It will take us a week perhaps two; can you stick with us that long?"

"Yeah, we were thinking along the lines of say five to six months down the road. Just before the baby's due," Roy responded, and John picked up on the unmentioned hope, that they could keep the small income JoAnne was bringing in until then.

"We'll meet with you once we get some of the information we're looking at." John promised then noticing Elise stumble on the uneven ground, John quickly pushed himself up over the fence and hurried to her side and guiding her into the house.

Roy and John rode into work together the next morning, arriving before the rest of the crew, except Cap.

Once John was changed into his uniform he hurried into the Captain's office, while Roy headed for the coffee pot.

Cap and John came out of the office together just in time for Roll call, everyone noticing the captain's hand on John's back.

Roll call went as they all do and assignments were handed out. Just when the men were expecting to be dismissed Cap gave Roy a look and received a grimacing nod.

"On a personal note," Cap continued speaking, "Roy and I have announcements to make, It would appear that the A shift's extended family has a couple of new additions on the way."

There was less than three seconds of stunned silence, as the rest of the men figured out that the news that was given wasn't in jest, before whoops and hollers lifted the rafters.

"Wait a minute," Chet turned his attention to Cap, "Did you say you and Roy? Isn't Gage in on this stork service?"

"Nope," John smiled at the phantom's confusion, "Elise and I got a pony instead."

"I can believe Roy," Chet proceeded to put his foot squarely in his mouth, "But Cap, I thought you were old enough to know better."

Somehow Hank had known some comment like that would be coming.

Between runs, Hank managed to help John make arrangements for a new fire crew from the Reservation in Montana to come for a week, to get some ride along training, to finish off the academy training they had completed. It was a family of consisting of a father, four sons and three nephews, and they had all attended the academy and graduated together. Everyone involved could see the need for some, on the job experience, even if there was little in the California area that would be like what they might experience in the rural Montana area they would be responding in.

John was able to explain to his captain, how attending the academy was above and beyond the training most volunteer fire team in the area would get. Cap still couldn't fathom being a fire chief right out of the academy, but someone had to step up and claim the position, and because he was the father, he was the most qualified to fill the position. Under the circumstances Hank couldn't come up with a better claim.

All meals were seasoned with jokes and wise cracks for the expecting fathers and when the shift was over everyone gathered at home station. When asked why, it was Chet who answered.

"We just had to come and see the new Baby Gage."

John was laughing so hard, all he could do was hook his thumb toward the barn for an explanation.

Both horses were quite skittish with the crowd of people and John coached them all to keep their distance and move slowly as he moved in to calm the filly, and ease her forward to get her nose petted, as he worked to accustom her to being around people, meanwhile Elise kept the colt from hurting himself. Everyone was quite surprised that the colt seemed to have taken a liking to Chet's plaid flannel shirt.

-0-

That evening, while John and Elise were alone and Elise was going over some of her financial and property reports. She had spent several hours with Dr. Brackett's father, their lawyer, while John was on shift, bringing her up to date on all of her accounts. Although she remembered most the transactions that took place before her accident, anything afterward was hit or miss until her memory black out starting with her first day in the California court room.

Elise was amazed at all she had been able to do during the time she span she couldn't remember. She was talking with John, asking him to fill her in on what wasn't written down, that he could remember.

She was studying a file of hand written instructions to herself, complete with diagrams she had spread out on the kitchen table. She dropped her pencil and John looked up to see her hand shaking and her eyes rolling back into her head.

John hurried to her side and held her in a way to keep her from hurting herself, as she rode the seizure out. It had been six weeks since her last seizure, at least as far as Johnny knew. They had been warned before the big brain surgery, that getting Elise seizure free was unlikely but John was actually hoping that they had the seizures completely under control now and that by the time JoAnne and Emily needed to quite, to take care of their babies, Elise would be alright on her own. As Elise jerked and shook in his arms he knew that wasn't to be so. Something else would have to be worked out before that time came.

When Elise finally went limp in his arms she didn't come around, like she had been doing after seizures, since her last surgery.

John carefully carried her over to the sofa and set a pillow in place to maintain a proper airway while he went to get his first aid kit, so he could get a full set of vitals before he called into the hospital for instructions.

-0-

At Rampart the next morning Elise was poked and prodded, then eventually listened to before three doctors put their heads together.

"Well any one of these three medications could be causing the nausea she's been feeling in the mornings lately." One doctor commented on the records opened up in front of him.

"Just to be on the safe side I ordered a pregnancy test again, just like the others it's negative."

Another doctor reported as he was looking at the lab results that had just been delivered."

"Any one of these medications can be contributing to her appetite fluctuations as well and the increase in her waist line but there's no significant weight gain."

At the end of the day Elise was given four different medications and five that she had been taking were discontinued and then she was sent home with instructions to go to bed and stay there until tomorrow and then only light activity.

Elise was the one to make sure the doctors approved her to feed the colt, so that her husband would let her.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

John was grateful for the automatic garage door opener when he pulled into the station. He parked the Rover, with the passenger door just a few short feet from the bedroom door. Elise was helped from the Rover and into bed with little effort or fan fare.

After warming up some homemade soup, found in the fridge, John delivered dinner in bed and when it was eaten the dishes were set aside and John sat on the bed next to Elise.

"I'm sorry that I'm such a bother." Elise hung her head and sniffed.

"You're not a bother; you just scared me that's all." John pulled Elise into his arms and rocked back and forth with her as he held her tight against his chest.

"I don't know why I was scared though, the seizure was nothing compared to the ones you used to have before you're surgery. Back then it was a big deal if you went a day without a seizure this time you went over six weeks. Maybe next time it will be longer." John spoke encouragingly.

"I know you don't remember when we were married at the court house," John started to talk keeping Elise in his arms. "But when you agreed to marry me I couldn't have been happier, I knew things were going to be touch and go for a while, but I had convinced you to let me have whatever time there was with you as my wife. Roy was on a trip with his family so the next person I tried for witnesses was Cap. He told me I should have told him to sit down before I asked him and his wife to be witnesses." John remembered and laughed. "When you first met Cap you asked him to take me off in a corner and try and talk me out of marrying you. You told him that you had everything to gain and I had everything to lose. He did take me off a ways and I told him the whole story about us, well I guess it was more of an abbreviated story since there wasn't a lot of time. We both knew then, that there was a strong possibility that you would never be totally seizure free. When I told Cap that, he looked at me and said that if you had a seizure once in a while you'd still have a lot of life to share a fairly full life. Then he looked at me and asked if I could live with that."

"You know I can still remember wondering what kind of a person Cap thought I was, to ask me that question. I never once worried about your seizures affecting the love that I feel for you, or my desire to have you and to hold you forever. Now after the time we've been together and all that we've been through, I see things a little differently than I did that day in the court house.

"You said then that you had everything to gain and I had everything to lose. Well you were wrong. I didn't have anything then, only after we were married did I have anything worth anything. Now that I have you and all the joy and happiness you've brought into my life, only now do I have everything to lose and I don't want to take any chances of losing any of it." John was still cradling Elise in his arms and still rocking back and forth as he rested his cheek very gently on the top of her head as she cried on his shoulder. "My two biggest fears in life right now are losing you, and being so afraid to lose you that I smother you, and don't allow you to live the life that will make you happy and feel the same joy in life that I feel."

John held Elise for some time and then forgetting about the dishes climbed into bed with her and continued to hold her tight and spent most of the night skin to skin.

After being informed that Elise was experiencing nausea in the mornings, but that she hadn't said anything about it. Well maybe she had said something about it once or twice a month or so ago, but not after that. Anyway now that John had been made aware that it had continued and she hadn't complained John started watching her a little closer. When he noticed the change in meds didn't stop the nausea he started waiting to give her medications after breakfast but that didn't seem to change anything.

On his next shift he managed to get Dr. Early aside for a moment to talk to him about it and he advised being patient, "Sometimes it takes a couple of weeks for the body to adjust to the medications, give it a little time and then if things don't get better let us know and we'll try something else."

John waited and sure enough about a month later the nausea stopped.

Just in time to host the visiting fire department from Montana. Uncle Milton had sent two fillies with the crew, they were from the wild horse herd that roamed on Elise's property in Montana, and the herd had needed to be thinned out a little. It was clear that Uncle Milton knew a good horse when he saw one and had sent the best for his niece and her husband. When their little stallion grew up he was going to have quite a harem.

Elise convinced John to invite all of the firemen who would be working with the eight men for the next week to home station, so they could get to know the men they would be training.

Home station became the sight of a glorious Powwow and Elise managed to cook up some Native American dishes to serve everyone.

The Catawnee family members were grateful for the opportunity to learn from those who had done this work for some time and Fire Chief Catawnee was quick to sit with Captain Stanley and ask him many questions. First of all how to do his best to see to it that his son's survived to fight the next fire.

The big powwow set Elise back a little and she wasn't able to wake up before Johnny left for work the next morning. John bent down and gave her a kiss on the lips before he left and when she didn't respond he checked her pulse, it was good and there was no indication that her blood pressure was off.

Gratefully someone from each station that was training the men agreed to come by home station and pick them up. Johnny was also grateful that none of his fellow firefighters showed any reluctance to work with these men based on their heritage.

Before they had arrived, John had visited with each fire crew and explained to them what was wanted. "They are boots all of them fresh from the academy, including their Chief, who is more like what we think of as a Captain. They managed to get a grant which allowed them to get that training, that makes them the highest trained fire department in that territory. They know they're boots they don't have any visions of grandeur, there is a need in their area and this family has stepped up to meet that need. Their fire engine is nothing more than a converted water tanker, they have very few supplies, and they'll have to tell you what rescue equipment they've been able to acquire. While they are here, learning everything you can teach them, if there is a fire back home, the closest fire station is nearly an hour away. Please respect them for their efforts and teach them everything you can that will keep them safe and help them do their job when they get home."

John walked into the station leading Chief Catawnee who was quick to ask where to put his turn out, SCBA and helmet. The helmets of the visiting crew stood out because they were all yellow. When asked why the answer was simply, because that's what they gave us. Hank was quick to suggest that the Chief, in some way, mark his helmet differently to designate himself as the leader and to make it easy to pick him out at a fire. The chief wrote that suggestion down in his notebook, a notebook that would be completely full before his visit was completed.

The first call of the day was a simple trash fire, Captain Stanley didn't even have to give instructions, Marco just quickly pulled the reel line and doused the flames once Mike had charged the line. While the men were raking through the trash making sure the fire was out Captain Stanley walked over to Chief Catawnee, "Not one of the more exciting fires we get to fight."

"What I don't understand is why did they call you and not put it out their selves." The Chief questioned. Hank was stunned by his response. "If I were to get that call in my area, it would probably be best if I just went there and used their garden hose to put it out instead of gathering all the boys at the station and then driving the truck there."

Hank stepped back for a moment of thought, before he responded to his counterpart from another time zone. Then he began to educate the man about all the things that could go bad in such a fire.

"So it might be a good idea to find out what some of the businesses in our area put in their garbage dumpsters." The Chief responded to Captain Stanley's teaching. "We do have a couple of businesses that deal in chemicals within our area, is there someplace I can go to find out about the different chemicals and how best to treat them. I'm afraid that the academy we went to, told us nearly every five minutes to listen to the person in charge and do whatever they say. That doesn't help much when I'm that person."

During that first shift most of the visiting firemen assisted in a small brush fire, something they would expect to get back home. The Chief ended up talking to the captain a lot about the policy to allow some of those fires burn to remove unwanted vegetation. Captain Stanley was prepared to talk to him on that subject, since he had worked in wild fires before he joined the department.

There was also a high-rise fire. The sixth floor of an office building was taken out by some kind of explosion, the investigations team would have to determine for sure what caused the explosion. Station 51 was one of the stations called out on that one. The visiting firemen showed they weren't afraid to get in where it was hot and were a real asset. In the end, while they were cleaning up several of the guests came to their chief. "Sure glad we don't have any of them back where we come from," one young man said while hooking his thumb at the tall building. The chief had to agree.

When the men were off shift, John arranged with several of his fellow Paramedics to gather at a popular climbing area and together they worked on repelling and teaching them how to get stokes up and down cliffs. This was something Elise knew they were going to need and she was able to talk to them about specific trouble spots in their response area. They would be covering everything within thirty minutes of where their water truck would be stationed. That included eight small towns and numerous farms and ranches.

The fire department also set up an auto extrication exorcize for the benefit of their guests. The Jaws were impressive to them but Chief Catawnee explained that such equipment was beyond their current operations budget. The Eight men got together in a huddle and then demonstrated how to get a victim out of a wrecked car using regular car jacks, winches and pry bars. Everyone watching was impressed with their ingenuity. Captain Stanley noticed the chief looking over the other equipment and writing down model numbers in his little book, he was sure some of the pieces of equipment would find a way onto their engine when funds could be acquired.

Before they returned home the visiting firemen threw a thank you powwow for those who had taught them. A fire was built in the middle of the field near home station and everyone who attended was fed well, and taught some of the Native American dances, as their hosts donned their full ceremonial regalia. John and Elise were able to dress the part as well.

Everyone was having a wonderful time when they heard the horses kicking up a ruckus. When John and Elise looked to see what was wrong, they saw three young boys shooting rock's at the horses using sling shots.

John and Elise hurried into the corral to get the horses under control, with the help of some of the visiting firemen, who were familiar with horses. Others took control of the boys and their sling shots, while others called the police.

Elise was focusing on getting her little colt under control when a hoof of one of the other horses connected and sent her sailing.

Elise landed with a thud but was able to roll out of the way. Pulling her arm into a protective hold she pushed herself with her feet until she had backed into a corner where the corral met up with the barn. Her young colt, named Guardian Warrior, surprised everyone by getting between Elise and the rest of the horses, often standing on his hind legs in an attempt to fend off all the other much bigger horses.

With all the expert help available to him, Johnny was able to get the three fillies under control quickly and his guests hustled them into the barn and their own separate stalls, before they started looking over the welts that had been left by the rocks they had been pelted with.

John's biggest concern now was Elise, but little Guardian Warrior wasn't about to let anyone near her.

John tried to talk to the horse and calm him down but it was a call from Elise that took him to her. "It's okay boy," Elise called as she used her uninjured hand to pet his nose. "Good boy." She continued to croon as Johnny slowly moved in with a lasso and slipped it around his neck.

As the rope tightened the colt became agitated and John pulled quickly to keep him from hurting Elise any more.

"It's okay boy," Elise again calmed him down and John gave him reins enough to get his nose patted and rubbed. "Now you go with daddy, everything is going to be alright."

There were more than a few snickers at John being called daddy, but the colt let John lead him to his stall, where someone else was there to shut him in so that John could return to Elise's side.

With 16 paramedics on sight, John was quickly assigned the roll of bystander and held away from Elise while others proficiently checked her over and put a splint on her arm. When the ambulance arrived Johnny was led to the cab of the ambulance and pushed inside, while Elise was being loaded in the back.

At Rampart Johnny managed to push himself into the treatment room, but before the doctors had finished their exam, Dixie had managed to pull him out again. "Your too close to this one Johnny, we'll take care of her and the doctors will be out to talk with you as soon as they know anything."

John was placed into the hands of the rest of his crew, and all five of them had a hold of some part of his body when Dixie returned to the treatment room.

-0-

The doctors had gone over Elise from head to toe, blood had been drawn for lab work and she was able to assure them that she hadn't hit her head, and that the only part of her that hurt was her arm. Still the doctors wanted a skull series. As the doctors left the room to allow the x-ray technician in, Dixie moved in with the warmed blanket, that Elise had requested before she left the room.

"Dix," Elise stopped her with a frightened look. "Before we do this I have to have another opinion on something."


	24. Chapter 24

Author's note: two thirds of my crew are back from Camp now so the next chapters are going to be slower in coming. Hope you've enjoyed the ride and are willing to be patient with me. I think I need a moment to catch my breath.

**Chapter 24**

John and his crewmates were standing in the waiting room, there was no place with enough chairs together to accommodate all of them, and John was a nervous wreck. These were the same boys that had been throwing fire crackers in the pond, and started the grass at the edge of it on fire twice. Each time Johnny was able to quickly douse the fire with a bucket of water from the pond, thankfully he had been alerted before things got out of hand because the fire crackers upset the horses, mostly the little colt which is how he got his name.

John also suspected that they were the ones who were putting roofing nails under his tires whenever he parked his rover outside. But he couldn't prove it. The nails started showing up after John had notified the police, he knew they were just kids but if they started a fire while he was on shift there would be no one there to put it out, except for Elise and John couldn't risk her being in that kind of a situation alone. Not to mention the kids could end up hurting themselves or worse if they weren't stopped.

As Johnny paced around the room he drew a lot of attention, dressed in his Native American regalia, the feathers and bells around his calves jingling with every step he took.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity Dr. Early came out of the treatment room as the portable X-ray machine was maneuvered in.

When he reached the waiting room Dr. Early smiled at the buckskin dressed Indian before him with five well known firemen standing behind him. "I think she's going to be fine. She claims she didn't hit her head, but we'll get some x-rays to make sure. There's no question that her arm is broken but that should heal without any complications. Why don't you come with me and we'll fill you in on everything as the test results come in." Johnny was then separated from his friends and led to the Doctors' lounge where four doctors were looking over a medical file that stood nearly five inches thick.

-0-

In the treatment room Dixie was doing her best to calm the other nurse in the room, that just happened to be the patient. She had requested a warmed blanket and Dixie was taking the time to cover her with it before she left the room, so the X-ray technician could get to work.

"Dix," Elise stopped her with a frightened look. "Before we do this I have to have another opinion on something."

"Now what would that be?" Dix asked with a smile, she was totally confused by the fear in her patient's eyes. This was surely nothing more serious than a broken arm and Elise had been through a lot worse in the past. "What are you worried about Elise?"

Elise didn't say a word in response to Dixie's question, she just took a hold of Dixie's hand and placed it palm side down on her stomach.

-0-

In the doctors lounge five doctors were comparing notes and John wasn't sure if they knew he was there or not. No one was talking to him but they were discussing his wife, so on the chance that they didn't know he was there he didn't want to be the one to tell them.

"Did she request this pregnancy test be run," one doctor questioned.

"Yes," Dr Early responded distractedly as he looked over other test results that had just been delivered.

"Well it's negative again, just like all the other's she's requested." "She hasn't had a menstrual cycle since she left the hospital after her brain surgery."

"That's not true, she had two of them. That last one about a week before some big dance they were pressured into hosting at their house."

"Yeah, but that's been what, five, six months ago. I think we need to seriously consider testing to see if all the damage that was done to her brain has affected her pituitary gland and put her in early menopause."

"I think before we do that, we should get a pharmacologist down here and make sure this isn't just a side effect of some of these anti-seizure drugs she's taking. There are a couple of them that I know of that have some kind of effect on the hormones, which is why we haven't dared considered birth control pills."

"Well before we do any more tests let's see what the skull series shows us, shall we."

"Dr. Early," Dixie stuck her head in the door. "I need to speak with you."

"Sure Dix can it wait a minute?" Joe Early responded.

"It's pretty important," Dixie responded prompting Joe to look up from his charts and into the head nurses eyes. There was no question, after seeing the look on her face, that it was important.

"Excuse me fella's I'm needed," Dr. Early excused himself before stepping through the door after Dixie.

Johnny was listening and could hear the implication that something, other than a broken arm was wrong with his wife. Why had she requested so many pregnancy tests? Other than that one night when he forgot . . . what was going on with his wife? Were they saying she may never be able to have the child she wanted? With the risks he had been told of John wasn't sure how he felt about that. He listened more intently, making sure he sat still so they wouldn't know he was there and send him out.

-0-

Joe Early followed Dixie down the hall and into the treatment room where Elise was still waiting for x-rays, her teeth working on her lower lip as she looked at the doctor entering the room. The x-ray technician was leaning against his machine waiting for his next instructions as Dixie walked over to pick up a stethoscope and handed the ear pieces in Dr. Early's direction.

"Dix?" Dr. Early questioned.

"Humor me,"

With a questioning look Dr. Early took the stethoscope and placed the ear pieces in his ears, then followed as Dixie took the bell of the stethoscope in her hand and pulled Dr. Early over till he was standing next to the patient. Then Dixie positioned the bell of the stethoscope on the spot she had previously determined was the right spot and held it firmly in place.

Dr. Early curiously listened carefully then shifted surprised eyes to Dixie.

"Hi Joe," Came from the newly opened door, "you asked for a consultation?"

Joe gave Dixie another surprised look then turned to Dr. Brackett. "Have a listen, would you."

Kell Brackett pulled his own stethoscope from his pocket and placed it in his ears listening intently in the same area he had seen Joe listening. With a growing smile and even a bit of a smirk Kell pulled the stethoscope from his ears and turned to Joe, "I would recommend running a pregnancy test."

"It just came back negative," Joe responded with the same questioning look on his face.

Kell's face quickly matched the surprised look of the others and the corners of his mouth started twitching.

He placed the stethoscope back in his ears and listened again, then he placed the stethoscope in his pocket and placed both hands on Elise's stomach and began to palpate. He suddenly stopped his hands frozen in place. "You better run it again."

"Dix, let's get a fresh sample and get a sonogram down here." Joe then turned to the x-ray technician. "We still need pictures of that arm; you better put a shield over the abdomen.

-0-

John Gage looked up at the clock on the wall and realized that he had been sitting there for forty-five minutes, listening to a bunch of doctors demonstrate that they didn't have a clue of what was wrong with his wife or even if there was anything wrong with his wife.

"If you guys can ever agree on anything send for me," John stated as he got up and left the room, his bells still jingling as he walked. He was going to go sit with his wife and if they didn't have her arm set and cast by now, he was going to throw a fit, with bells on.

-0-

Roy, Cap and their wives, along with Chet, Marco, and Mike were sitting in the waiting room. A couple of groups of patients had been moved along and a place big enough for all of them to sit together had opened up. From where they were sitting, they could see most of the action taking place down the hall and their concerns were growing with all the Doctors, nurses and equipment coming and going from the treatment room where they knew Elise was being taken care of.

When they saw John come from the doctor's lounge and walk toward the treatment room, Roy was debating with himself whether or not to go be with him.

-0-

John reached the door to Elise's treatment room and listened for a short second before just pushing the door open and walking in.

Once John was inside, the sight before him terrified him half to death. Elise had finally been changed into a hospital gown and it didn't take a seasoned paramedic long to recognize the EKG electrodes hooked up to her chest, the electrodes and monitors around her stomach were a mystery, but the sonogram Dr. Early and Dr. Brackett were both working with and studying, was a sign of big trouble to Johnny. The monitor receiving the images produced was turned so that John couldn't see it but there was only one reason he could think of for the doctors to be using this equipment.

"Does she have internal injuries Doc? Are you going to have to operate to stop the bleeding?"

The two doctors looked up at the clueless husband who was clearly becoming extremely panicked. "No Johnny, there's no internal injuries or internal bleeding but we did find a bit of a surprise." Dr. Early started.

"Come have a look," Dr. Bracket offered.

John responded by stepping up next to his wife's freshly splinted arm and looked at the monitor Dr. Brackett was pointing to. What he was seeing looked familiar but it couldn't be what it looked like.

Elise saw the denial in his eyes and reached across her chest with her uninjured arm and took hold of one of John's hands pulling it over and placing it palm down on her stomach, her very active stomach.

"Doc, what's causing those spasms in her stomach?"

The two doctors looked down in defeat but also started giggling at the situation.

"Johnny," Dr. Brackett started stepping up next to the young man and placing a hand on his shoulder, little did he know that action was actually scaring him more. "Those aren't muscle spasms your feeling it's your unborn child and judging by the amount of activity I'm feeling I suspect he or she will have your hyperactive nature."

"But Doc, they, they," John pointed in the direction of the doctor's lounge where he had come from. "They said the pregnancy test was negative. They think she's in menopause, p p pituitary gland damaged."

"Johnny," Dr. Brackett paused to think his words through carefully, but still he noticed the blanching color on the young man's face and moved his hand from John's shoulder to take a hold of his upper arm. "We don't understand why, but the pregnancy tests have obviously been false negatives. Your wife is clearly pregnant and judging by what we're seeing at the moment she's been pregnant for some time.

John looked at Dr. Brackett, like he didn't understand a word he was saying, his face growing paler with each of the too many breaths he was taking in. "But Doc . . ." that was it, John's eyes rolled back in his head and it was all Dr. Brackett could do to wrap his arms around Johns chest as he collapsed to the floor."

-0-

The rest of Johnny's crew were still keeping their eyes locked on the treatment room door, when they saw a nurse run out and order an orderly to bring in another gurney. A short time later the door opened again and Dr. Brackett was seen backing out pulling the gurney with him and John Gage was on it.

Kell Brackett looked up and made eye contact with Roy before giving him a beckoning wave as he rolled the gurney holding the semi conscious John Gage to an empty treatment room across the hall. The x-rays of Elise's arm had finally been delivered and he needed to get back, but John needed someone to be with him. There was no one better to look after him at the moment than his crewmates.

Seeing Johnny on the gurney the men didn't wait to find out who all was being beckoned they all came.

Inside the treatment room they found Dr. Brackett placing a paper bag over John's mouth and nose as John was fighting him and trying to set up.

Cap and Roy knew this drill, Cap clapped both hands on John's shoulders and pushed him back on to the gurney while Roy took over the paper bag.

"I've got to get back in there; can you guys keep him under control and try to calm him down?"

"We'll do our best Doc," Roy responded as it was taking both of his hands to hold the paper bag on his partners face and Mike, Marco, and Chet were joining in to help hold him down.

"If you can't get him calmed down in about five minutes, give him five milligrams of diazepam, you'll find it in that cupboard there." Kell Brackett pointed out as he left the room.

It wasn't five minutes later that Dr. Brackett came back.

"John, the x-rays of your wife's arm shows that it's broken worse than we thought. We're going to have to take her to surgery and put a couple of plates in."

"But what about her heart, what about?" John questioned again trying to push himself up against the hands holding him down.

"Now Johnny, the Doctors are being well informed, I assure you we will do everything possible to see that nothing happens to your wife or your unborn child."

"Unborn child!" five firemen and two wives exclaimed in unison.

"But Doc how did it happen?"

"How did it happen?" Chet started chuckling, "Okay Johnny boy, I can tell you're a little rattled so I'll tell you, I just need to know, do you want the G rated version, or the PG rated version, or the X rated—"

"Shut up Chet," John cut him off. "Doc how is it that she's so far along and no one figured it out before now?"

"I don't know John. When we get things settled down, there are a whole lot of doctors who are going to be asking a whole lot of questions. At this point we might not get any answers. Now I'm going to need you to sign permission forms for your wife, so we can take her to surgery and fix that arm."

Johnny nodded his head, having been successfully brought under control. "I can do that, but I want to see her before you take her up to surgery."

"Alright," Kell Brackett agreed but he looked as if he wasn't sure. "But in light of your current state, I think Roy should be with you to help hold you up." Kell looked at Roy to make sure he was alright with that.

"I'm sorry, but only Roy, the rest of you will have to wait outside." Just then Dr. Brackett noticed the two wives who were at their husband's sides helping to calm Johnny. Actually he noticed the bulging bellies that their hands were resting on.

"What did you guys do, have a sleep over at the fire station?"


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

The group of firemen and their wives were holed up in a surgical waiting room. The Stanley teenagers were watching the DeSoto's children at the home station; they were getting in practice to babysit.

John was stretched out on the padded bench against the wall. His arm over his eyes but he was neither still nor calm.

As Elise was being rolled into surgery, Dr. Brackett stepped up to John's side and unceremoniously handed him a small cup with a pill in it and a glass of water. Roy and Cap worked together to get him to move the pill to his mouth and a good slap on the back from Chet assured that he swallowed it.

Hank sat on a chair across the small room from John watching him and listening to his mumbling. The pill was just to calm him down not put him out, but Mike had managed to get him to lie down and rest until someone came with news. Both Mike and Marco were sitting next to him to keep him company while Chet ran for some refreshments. He had been advised not to get coffee because that might counteract the sedative John had been given.

Hank draped his arm around his wife's shoulders as she sat next to him. He encouraged her to rest her head on his shoulder as he looked at her swelling belly and shook his head in wonder at all that was happening to their extended family. John was certainly responding to the news differently than he had, but then the circumstances were also very different.

It was about an hour after they had sequestered themselves in the room that Hank noticed Dr. Bracket and another doctor coming toward the door. Sitting up strait in his chair he gave John a quick glance to see he was somewhat calmly sipping on a soda, he then looked back to see Dr. Brackett stop the other doctor for a quick word before he opened the door and let the other doctor enter before him as he followed.

Once the door opened Hank watched John jerk his head up, hand his soda off to Chet and launch himself to his feet in one smooth motion. Chet was quick to rise at his side and Hank noticed the supportive hand in the middle of John's back and knew the stocky firefighter would catch him if he should fall.

"I just checked by surgery, they have the bones aligned and the plates are attached. They were just starting to close up the incision when I checked." Dr Brackett spoke before John could ask his question. "They'll put the cast on after that and then move her to recovery. Everything is looking fine."

John and everyone else in the room let out a sigh of relief as John gave a nod in recognition of what had been said.

"John, I'd like you to meet Dr. Anderton we've brought him in to consult in your wife's case."

John reached out and shook the man's hand. "What do you specialize in?"

"I'm in obstetrics," the man said quickly and everyone in the room noticed how John wavered and his knees seemed to weaken as Mike and Marco stepped closer in case they were needed.

"Why don't we have a seat, I'd like to talk to you about some things and Dr. Brackett here says you have some questions for me. We can find a consultation room where it's more private."

"NO, no that's okay," John spoke as Mike and Chet helped him to sit down. "These are all friends, good friends, they can hear what you have to say, it will save me from having to tell them everything later." "First of all Doc, I wan'na know is how is it that she's been pregnant for all this time and no one knew. It's not like she's never seen a doctor, she's in two or three times a month for something or other, and I've been told today that she's had multiple pregnancy tests and that all of them have came back negative. Dam 'it I'm a paramedic, you'd think I'd have suspected something, the way that baby was moving earlier you'd think I would have noticed something, It's not like we don't, well it's not like we have separate bedrooms or anything. We are definitely very married."

"I'm afraid the answer to your question is that I don't know." Dr. Anderton started, "there are recorded incidents where this has happened, cases where women have been brought in with severe cramps and delivered having no previous knowledge they were pregnant. In most cases there have been no tests run, but there are a few isolated cases where the woman had seen a doctor. Why your wife didn't register positive is indeed a mystery, we've run three more tests since we've confirmed without a doubt that she is pregnant and only one, a test we normally only use if we suspect problems came up positive."

The panic rushed back into John's face at the doctor's last statement and Roy moved closer with the paper bag in his hand.

"What kind of problems doc?"

"Well at this point we don't see any, everything looks fine so far, the sonogram images show what appears to be a fetus at about twenty to twenty six weeks of gestation and well formed. Of course I'm sure you understand we're going to want to do more testing once your wife is out of surgery and has had a chance to recover just a little."

"Twenty six weeks that works out to what?" John questioned trying to do the math in his head, "Six months!"

"Yes we suspect she is between four and a half and six months along, it is kind of hard to pin things down any closer than that using a sonogram at this point. Dr. Brackett said that there was a particular night in question and we do have the date of a last menstrual cycle, using that information that would put your wife at around five and a half months."

"How did things go on this long? Why didn't she say something to me? How could I have not noticed?" John was asking questions in rapid fire speech not giving anyone a chance to answer as he ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. Roy offered the paper bag as he pulled the chair he was sitting in closer to his partner to offer more support. John shook his head no and started to control his breathing a little better.

"John," Dr. Brackett spoke up, "As far as the movement you felt today, even your wife said she hadn't felt it before. She said she first noticed something while she was being evaluated after the accident. The baby must have responded to the increased adrenalin in your wife's system at the time."

"That does fit with other recorded instances we have of other women who have had false negative Pregnancy tests."

"Could this be caused by the meds she's taking?" John questioned, "What about all the meds she's taking, could they have caused some kind of birth defect? What about her heart, they said she was a high risk of some serious complications if she were to get pregnant? What about her seizures?" John was growing anxious again, Chet and Mike each put a hand on his back while Roy reached out and placed a hand on John's chest in an effort to calm him down.

"To answer your questions, could the medications have caused the false negative test results, possibly, we are currently looking into that, but as for right now we don't know for sure. As far as the medications go, the good news is that she's not now nor has she been on any medications that are known to cause birth defects. The bad news is that very few of the medications that she is currently taking or has taken during the estimated time of gestation have ever been tested in a pregnancy. Like I told you earlier there is no sign at this time that there are any birth defects. We will do more testing in that regard in the next few weeks. As far as her heart goes, I have spent some time talking to Elise's Cardiologist and there is some concern, the pregnancy will place an added strain on the heart and she is going to have to be watched very carefully. Although we haven't been monitoring the pregnancy so far, because we didn't know there was one of course, your wife has been monitored very carefully and to this point there have been none of the complications that we would have been watching for all along."

John let out a sigh but there was no sign of relief on his face as his friends continued to watch him closely.

"There is also some cause for concern with the brain injury she sustained and the recent surgery she's had. There was an aneurism repaired as well as some other damage to blood vessels in the brain. We're going to want to be extra vigilant with her blood pressure for the rest of the pregnancy, as long as that stays within acceptable parameters me and the other doctors involved with your wife's care think we will get through this without further complications. It may however be necessary for your wife to spend a good portion of the rest of her pregnancy on strict bed rest."

John took in and let out a long slow breath before nodding his head in acknowledgment of what had been said.

"Now let's talk about the labor and delivery aspect," Dr. Anderton continued. "It is in the opinion of all of the Doctors working with your wife at this time, and I concur, that it would be best if the child was taken prior to full term and by cesarean section." Dr. Anderton paused to let the shocked and traumatized look on John's face work itself out. "The strain of Labor and delivery on her heart and the risk of her blood pressure going up during that time are just not risks we feel are wise to take in your wife's case. There is also the unpredictability of her seizures and no telling what they could add to the mix."

The room filled with silence as everyone watched John process the information he had been given. Both Hank and Roy were quick to realize that John's situation and circumstances were very different than their own.

While John was being filled in, Hank had been doing some figuring. Elise was about four weeks behind Emily and JoAnne but with them planning to take the baby early they could all be at the hospital at the same time. The thought came to him that, just maybe, he'd better give headquarters a heads up incase half of the crew were to miss the same shift.

"Slow it down partner; you don't want to go out on us again." Roy counseled his partner, bringing Hank's focus back on John.

"You really have this all planned out," John commented after a moment of thought and controlled breathing. "Does that mean we're really going to have a baby?"

There wasn't a person in that room that didn't realize this was a genuine question, most had to smile at the confused father to be but none more than the two doctors.

"At this stage of development it would be not only unwise but cruel and inhumane to terminate the pregnancy now, not to mention against the laws of this land." Dr. Anderton answered and a new look of shock engulfed John's face.

"no, no we couldn't do that to Elise, not now, she'd never agree to it anyway," John was more mumbling to himself at this point.

"Slow it down partner," Roy counseled again as he rubbed John's chest to give him something else to focus on. John looked up at Roy and Roy locked eyes with him, coaching him in his breathing and going through the motions with him.

When John's color returned to normal, or at least close to normal, he broke eye contact with Roy and looked around the room at everyone else. There were smiles on every face, some smiles of humor, others smiles of hope, John took in another breath and held it for a moment before blowing it out very slowly.

"Wow," John spoke with obvious dismay, "Looks like I'm going to be a father," then a moment latter, "Wow, I'm going to be a father. I'm really going to be a father."

The smiles in the room turned to several giggles as they watched John accept his role.

As John was finishing letting his news settle in, JoAnne needed to get up and stretch. As she rubbed her aching back Emily chose to join her.

Dr. Anderton looked at the two women and then turned a puzzled look to Dr. Brackett, while somewhat discreetly pointing to the two women.

"It looks to me like they had a sleepover at the fire station." Dr. Brackett repeated his earlier statement.

Now Hank had been caught off guard the first time this was said, but as he thought about it, that was one rumor he didn't want getting around and now he had thought of a reply.

"No docs. Not a sleepover. Just individual parties in response to a very romantic renewing of vows ceremony that had us all feeling grateful for our spouses and as much in love as the couple we had been there to support."

"I guess love must have been in the air that night, I've just learned through the grape vine that half a dozen of the nurses that were in attendance at the ceremony are expecting also." Brackett revealed new information.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Once the Doctors were sure John didn't, currently, have any more questions they could answer, they excused themselves and went back to work. John then began nervously pacing the room and Roy stayed at his side, reminding him to watch his breathing and trying to keep him calm.

Roy finally got him to set down again on the other side of the room, where not everyone else could hear what might be said. John rubbed his face again and ran his hands through his hair a few more times, then he looked around the room, his sights resting on the two pregnant women there with them.

"What am I going to do Roy?"

"First of all you need to give yourself some time to let things soak in." Roy responded while rubbing John's back. "Then I guess you better start setting up a nursery for your baby. From the sounds of things you've only got a few months before you're going to need it."

John looked at his friend, as the realization of what he was saying registered in his mind. "How could I not have noticed that something was going on? Elise must have known something was going on. Why else would she have requested all those pregnancy tests? Why didn't she say something?"

"I think you're right that Elise suspected something, and she did say something, to her doctors. I can understand her not talking to you about it when all the tests kept coming back negative. Heck I've been there lots of times when you've asked one of the doctors about different things and listened to them give you totally believable reasons for the symptoms you were both seeing. With the negative pregnancy tests they just moved on to other possibilities that's all. They just didn't get things right this time. We both know that medicine is as much an art as it is a science."

John was still fighting to stay calm, frequently taking in a deep breath and holding it then slowly blowing it out.

"This all still feels so unreal!"

"Yeah, I can tell by the look on your face," Roy responded with a smile, still holding his hand on John's back. "I must admit, most fathers find out a lot earlier in the game than you did, and not after being told that's not the case as many times as you have been."

"Some game," John commented still trying to take it all in.

John was watching the clock and starting to get anxious again at the length of time it was taking for someone to come tell him his wife was out of surgery. Hank finally stepped forward and used his command authority to get John to sit down before he drove everyone nuts. John complied just as the orthopedic surgeon walked through the door. It was more like he bounced on the seat instead of sat on it.

"How's my wife?" John spoke quickly dispelling any question in the doctor's mind who he was supposed to talk to.

"She's fine, everything checks out and we should move her into a room in about thirty minutes." The doctor responded quickly.

"What took so long," John knew before the man walked through the door that there was some kind of a problem for it to take as long as it had.

"You're wife did experience a seizure just as we were bringing her out of the anesthesia.

Probably due to the pain and the drugs we gave her to prevent complications between the anesthesia and her other medications, it's not uncommon for people with seizure disorders to do that. We of course, had to take time to deal with the seizure and then we needed to re-x-ray the arm to make sure the bones were still aligned after the seizure." The Doctor reported a little defensively. "Because of the seizure and your wife's other health complications she will be taken to an intensive care unit when she's done in recovery. A nurse will come and inform you when you can see your wife." the man said and then turned to leave. It was clear he felt his job was done.

Everyone in the room, noticed something to be concerned about in John's features and they all worked together to sit him down and push his head down between his knees for a while.

-0-

When John was led to his wife, Roy walked along side of him till he reached the door. Roy stood by and listened as Dr. Early explained that they intended to keep her rather sedated through the night, but that it was just a precaution they were taking to prevent further seizures. He listened as Dr. Early told John, no less than four times, that everything with Elise and the baby was alright.

When Dr. Early left the room he stopped to speak with Roy and pointed out a cot through the open door to the storage closet next to Elise's room. "We chose Elise's room accordingly, we'll see to it that he spends some time there, using something a little stronger than what Dr. Bracket gave him earlier if we have to."

Roy remembered the time they spent with John after Elise's brain surgery and made a very quiet suggestion. "There's a gum ball machine in the front lobby that contains the perfect placebos."

Dr. Early smirked and ducked out of sight to make sure John didn't catch on.

As soon as Dr. Early left, John found a stool in the corner of the room and moved it over to the side of the bed, opposite of Elise's casted and elevated arm. The cast came beyond her elbow keeping her arm bent, she lay still and silent but John was comforted that she only sported a nasal cannula for oxygen. The monitors over head were keeping track of all the usual, her heart rate, pulse and oxygen levels, all registering normal readings, but there was an extra monitor showing a second heart rate, that was just a little faster and had a slightly different beat. John still didn't know if he believed it or not.

After checking over all the monitors John sot out one more confirmation, he gently and somewhat timidly reached out and placed his hand on Elise's stomach. When he didn't feel anything right away he moved his hand slightly.

"The medications that have Elise sedated are keeping that little one asleep too," the nurse commented as she moved around John to get a blood pressure reading on Elise.

When she was done she took a moment to inform John of the readings, then she took just a moment to watch him. "It must have been a big surprise to find out you two are expecting the way you did?"

John smirked softly and gave a very emphatic nod of his head, "You can say that again." "I still don't understand how things could get this far along without anyone figuring things out before now."

"Yeah, well some doctors may have been a little more suspicious, but we're talking Cardiologist, neurologist, and a Rehab specialist, this just wasn't in their specialty and they thought they had perfect explanations for the symptoms they were seeing. Which, I will add, in Elise's case were not as pronounced as you might expect. She's definitely one of those women whom you can barely tell she's pregnant to look at her."

"Yeah, about that," John was going to have questions pop up, he was sure, until after this child was born. "How can that baby be as big as it is inside there? I mean both my Captain and my partner's wives are expecting and they're both a lot bigger than my wife is. They're farther along but only about a month."

"Some women just like to make the rest of us sick by staying skinny in spite of everything," the nurse responded with a smile, then Elise started to moan and grimace as she moved her head.

"Is it time for her meds?" John questioned having understood his wife would be out all night.

"No, she's up to date," The nurse explained, she had worked with Elise after her brain surgery and knew what to expect from John and what he had endured before. "We're going to be keeping her comfortable, she'll be in and out but she will be able to respond to you. Just don't forget that she needs her sleep, we can't have you talking to her every minute." The nurse smiled and then Elise's eyes opened and John could see nothing else.

Elise slowly and clumsily raised her good hand and placed it at the side of John's face. John gave her his famous crooked smile as he reached up and took hold of her hand and she gave one back. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm not the one who just had surgery to patch up my arm," John talked softly but loud enough that his wife could easily hear.

"I'm not the one who passed out," Elise smiled brighter at her husband. She then moved her head in an effort to see the monitors "Is everything alright with the baby?"

John responded by reaching up and adjusting the monitor in its bracket so that Elise could see it a little better before tapping on the line that showed the second heart beat.

Elise studied the monitor until her eyes closed in response to her meds but it was only seconds before they were open again, this time looking back at John. "Are you mad at me?"

"For what? Getting pregnant? The way I understand things you didn't do it all by yourself." John said and it was clear that he was worried and concerned about things to come, "I'm the one who forgot the dam condoms."

"I'm the one who wouldn't just roll over and go to sleep," Elise spoke slowly as she moved her thumb along John's cheek. "What are the doctors saying? There's no way I'm going to terminate so don't even suggest it."

"NO, no, that's not even on the table," John assured her, He had known the second it was suggested she wouldn't choose that option, and even as frightened as he was, neither would he. "They're going to watch you extra close every minute from here on out, check your blood pressure five times a day," John exaggerated maybe a little, but he'd probably still check things that often, even if the doctors didn't.

"They've called in a special obstetrician, he didn't say so but I'm sure he specializes in high risk pregnancies."

"Yeah, they probably need to do that," Elise accepted.

"There's a good chance that you're going to be put right down in bed for quite a while," John added, "And they don't want you to go through labor and delivery. They think it will be too much strain on your heart. They're planning to take the baby early and by cesarean section."

Elise lay quietly sorting through all that John had said, she was a nurse and had no trouble understanding the medical need for all that she was being told. "What about the baby, are they seeing anything to worry about?"

"No, nothing at all, they say everything looks just fine in spite of everything," John assured, then took a hold of her hand with both of his, "They are going to be doing some extra testing here as soon as you, a, recover just a little here, just to make sure and all."

"Wise precaution," Elise responded after resting her eyes, "for many reasons."

"You had better keep those eyes closed and get some sleep, or they're going to chase me out of here." John teasingly threatened. Elise gave her own crooked smile and drifted off. John never let go of her hand.

-0-

The rest of the crew returned to Home Station, where Captain Stanley stepped into the shoes of host, doing what he could to see to the comfort of John and Elise's guests. They would be heading back home in the morning and Elise had insisted they take most of her rescue gear. They would leave the little truck; it didn't fit in with their planes, and Elise's personal climbing and repelling gear. John still had hope of getting her on the mountains again someday. The rest of the equipment had been donated to Elise by the people of that area to aid in her work and she felt very strongly that it needed to go back and John had agreed.

Hank and Mike helped them load the gear in the trailer they had used to bring the horses out.

Chet and Marco took on the task of feeding the horses. Thank heavens the guests were there to help, because the horses were still quite agitated. Still for three of them it was just a matter of moving slowly, talking softly and making sure you stayed clear of the hooves while you placed the feed in the bucket.

Little Guardian Warrior however, was another matter. He wanted his mommy and was just not willing to take his bottle from anyone else.

After several attempts, Chet found the plaid flannel shirt the horse had taken a liking to and rubbed the horse's nose with it and put it on, in hopes of getting the young colt to eat his dinner.

Finally Chet had an idea and it was a good thing that John had a phone installed in the barn. They called the hospital and John was able to get a phone to Elise, while Cap held the phone in the barn up to the colt's ear. While Elise talked to him, Chet offered the bottle again and this time he took it. Cap finally pulled the phone away and informed Elise and then John that the mission was accomplished and then Chet took over the chatter until the bottle was empty. He even went as far as to inform the young colt that he was about to become a big brother, as everyone watching giggled and shook their heads.

-0-

Back at the hospital John was growing calmer as Elise became more alert and responded well to a lighter amount of pain meds than he feared would be needed. The next time she was awake enough to talk, the two of them talked over where to set up the nursery and both decided that at least for the first while they could keep the crib in their room.

The time after that the focus of discussion was on what to do once JoAnne and Emily needed to quit being her care givers to take care of their own infants.

And the next time Elise woke to talk the topic of discussion was the three boys who had been causing so much havoc around the ranch.

When Dr. Early made his morning rounds he was surprised to find John was not at Elise's side. The nurse was quick to lead him to the closet where John was sleeping soundly and had been, since the late night shift change.

Dr. Early gently shook his shoulder to wake him, telling him that Elise was being moved to a regular room and if all continued as it was she would be going home in the morning.

The next day John wheeled his wife out of the hospital with a brightly colored scarf ties in a sling to rest her arm in and a whole handful of baby pictures, the ultrasound type. The two decided to stop by a store that carried a large supply of baby furniture on their way home and picked up a crib.

Roy showed up later that day bringing JoAnne and the kids to spend the night before going on shift the next morning. Before they all went to bed Roy helped John assemble the crib.

Once the crib was set up and in the right place, Roy began to list all the things John still needed to get, sheets, receiving blankets, a quilt or two, clothes, "the baby will need to be changed from top to bottom nearly every time you change its diapers," Roy began to enlighten his clueless partner, "Oh and diapers, I recommend those new disposable ones you don't have to wash you just throw them away, but you'll need a lot of them. Most babies need to be changed five or six times a day more if they get diarrhea," John just looked at Roy in shock and began to hyperventilate again.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

Roy drove Johnny into work the next morning in his rover. He had enjoyed teasing the new father to be, but now it was time to go to work and he was hoping he hadn't overdone it.

"Roy," Johnny broke the silence just as they pulled into the back lot of the station. "When is Jo and Emily due to have their babies? I want you to know Elise and I are working on a plan for her needs. I hope we can have something in place within a couple of weeks."

"You still have a month or more before JoAnne is going to have to cut back." Roy informed his partner. "What are you going to do about the boys that were shooting rocks last night, make them clean out the stables for a month."

"Na, wouldn't be safe, the horses don't trust them, and the kids would get hurt," Johnny responded. "Elise has a plan, she always does. We'll just have to see if the juvenile courts will go along with it." "We'll find out day after tomorrow."

The two men walked into the station, but before Johnny went into the locker room to change he sought out the two paramedics from the previous shift. "Hey I was wondering if I could get you two to help me get a message out to all the other paramedics in the area?" John spoke up as they were walking across the bay.

"What message would that be, that Captain Stanley allows conjugal visits?" The wisecracker from C shift popped out. Captain Stanley, who was in his office, heard the remark and responded by putting his head down on his desk and covering it with his hands, while the outgoing Captain Hookraider laughed as he gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.

Throughout the shift John got several phone calls and made several to his wife.

Hank managed to pull Roy aside. "How's he doing? Do the two of them have anything for that baby? It's not like they have a whole lot of time left if you know what I mean."

"They picked up a crib on their way home from the hospital." Roy informed his captain. "That's about it." "If it weren't for the fact . . . . well yeah, if it weren't for the fact that we're going to be using all of our stuff, I'd just hand down all of our baby stuff but."

"Yeah I know, I'm in the same boat remember." "Hey have you talked to him, about what's going to happen when Em and Jo need to quit watching over Elise so they can take care of their babies? Em talked with Marco's mother and she's willing to pick up the days, but the nights are hard on her."

"Yeah, He told me that he and Elise are working on something." Roy assured his captain. "He's pretty worried about it."

For the next couple of shifts, John was getting multiple phone calls. The rest of the crew was to eventually learn, that he and Elise were trying to find someone who would be willing to live in the upstairs training center and Chief Offices. And not just anyone, they wanted someone who had the medical back ground to take care of Elise and watch out for her on the nights that John was on duty. Momma Lopez had agreed to pick up the days JoAnne and Emily would be giving up, as long as she could go home in the evening to be with her husband and the rest of her family. Elise had gone home with her a couple of nights but they really didn't have room with all of their family still living there and Elise couldn't sleep. Momma Lopez had noticed this and refused to take her after the second time.

Several of John's fellow paramedics stopped by to look at the place, they liked the free rent but most didn't like the proximity of the apartment to the barn. Others stated that they thought it was just too much overtime, and living in a fire station wasn't their cup of tea. One of the Paramedics was really excited stating that living there would allow them to save up the down payment on a new home. But his wife didn't agree to the deal, she didn't like horses.

On the next shift Chief McConnike showed up for a visit around lunch time. He stood against the stove drinking a cup of coffee. "What's this memo I received this morning, something about three of you on this shift needing maternity coverage at the same time?"

"A, yeah, possibly," Cap responded, very nervously.

"Which three, somehow I'm sure Gage is in on this deal."

"As a matter of fact he is. The doctors taking care of his wife are planning to take his baby early so his time is somewhat predictable, and then there's Roy here, and a . . . . then there's . . . um, me."

"You!" the Chief jokingly harassed, he had heard the rumors going around and had known for several months that this captain, under his charge had found himself in the baby business again, but had respected his privacy enough to wait until he had formally informed him, himself before he said anything. "You know they know what causes that now days?"

"Yeah," Hank hung his head in a, here we go again, mode. "So I've heard."

"Well congratulations to you all, I guess we better move into the office and mark some dates and fill out some paperwork," the chief began to move his hands in an effort to shew the heard of fathers to be in the direction of the office, as the rest of the group laughed.

After dinner, while John was washing dishes with Marco and Chet drying, when Cap came in leading a young couple, "John you've got company."

John turned and looked at two people he had never seen before, with confusion on his face.

"Um, Nurse McCall, from Rampart General told us to come here and talk to you. Something about an apartment for rent cheap?" the young man spoke hesitantly.

"John, if you'd like to take this conversation to the office I'm sure Chet and Marco can finish up the dishes without you." Cap offered, with a look that told the other two that they were going to volunteer to finish up.

"Thanks Cap," John smiled then turned to his crewmate, "Thanks guys."

John led the couple to the office and encouraged them to sit down. Before he could find a seat the young woman was handing a stack of papers in his direction. John took a moment to look them over long enough to find that there were two resumes and a letter of recommendation from Dixie. He silently glanced at the resumes long enough to learn that Michael Butler, was signed up for the next Paramedic class and already had his EMT with an I.V. skill certificate, that was everything and more than the people that were currently watching Elise had as far as training. Brenda Stuart, John learned from Dixie's letter of recommendation, that she was soon to be Brenda Butler, and was a registered nurse, with two years experience in neonatal ICU and pediatrics where she was currently working at Rampart.

John looked at the two, sitting nervously in front of him, and marveled at his good fortune.

"What did Dixie tell you about the apartment?" John asked, beginning to think things were too good to be true.

"She said that there was a woman who lived down stairs who needed to be looked after, that she was recovering from a severe accident and still has some damage to her heart as well as a brain injury that has resulted in occasional seizures." Brenda started talking as if she were giving a rapid report to a doctor. Michael remained quiet, both were extremely nervous.

"What station did you work out of before you went into training?" John asked Michael, he really needed to hear him talk.

"123, sir, but I've been assigned to one of the new stations, number 68 on weekends while I'm training."

"First of all I'm not a sir, call me John or Johnny. Second of all, you're correct about the woman needing a little help and someone to watch over her. That would be my wife; she's not an invalid by any means. We have someone who will be on hand during the day to drive her where she needs to go and when I'm home we're covered. It's while I'm here on duty that we need someone to be on hand in the evenings and at night, in case she needs some help. She's also pregnant and she'll need to be watched a little closer for the next few months."

"Dixie told me about that too," Brenda responded, "I actually met your wife while she was at the hospital for some tests recently. She's a very nice and a remarkable woman."

John remained quiet for a moment while he read Dixie's letter in its entirety, he learned that Michael had spent the summer, before he entered the fire academy, working for the forest service and taking care of their stock of horses. This was really too good to be true or it was a perfect match, one or the other.

The couple was invited to come by the home station as soon as he got off shift, to have a look around. Michael showed his ability to get the horses to come to him and little Guardian Warrior seemed to approve of having Mike to lead him back to his stall, without fighting him.

Within an hour a contract, stating the apartment was rent free as long as Elise needed help and detailed their responsibility to Elsie, and that they would be responsible for all utilities for their apartment. They were also offered the bay and the back garden for their wedding and reception. John worried about that but Elise promised to behave. It was agreed that the couple could move in the next week, but that Brenda would be sleeping in the guest bedrooms until after the wedding. It put her closer to watch out for Elise anyway.

-0-

That afternoon John and Elise had an appointment with the Juvenile Court authorities, where Elsie had made arrangements to visit with the parents of the three boys, prior to meeting in the judge's chambers.

"I don't understand," one of the fathers growled as John led Elise into the conference room. "What are they doing in here?" Elise had another brightly colored scarf tied around her neck to hold up her cast, but for the most part looked better and stronger than she had for a while. At the father's remark Elise turned to give John a knowing look. The man's simple statement confirmed her suspicions.

"We're here to talk about your children," Elise took command of the situation. "I have a hunch they are just acting on what their hearing at home."

"What are you talking about?" a second father demanded in a raised voice.

Elise just sat down and placed a calming hand on John's arm with a small smile and a silent conversation in the form of a nod. John silently took the seat next to her and remained quiet. Something they had agreed upon that morning at breakfast, while they were getting ready to come to the court house and on the ride to the courthouse. Oh yeah they agreed in the hall too while they were waiting for the doors to open to let them in.

"If you could tell me anything you wanted, regardless of how bad it is, what would you say?"

Elise started and then placed her hand palm down on the table in a submissive posture. "Feel free to ask the court officials to leave before you speak if you'd like."

There was a stiff silence for a few moments and then one of the mother's spoke, "I don't know why you think you need all of that land for yourself. And just because you can afford it is no reason to build a golf course, our children really need someplace to play."

"Golf Course?" John spoke up before Elise could, placed her hand on his arm. She gave him a look that silenced him once again.

"Yeah, a lot of jobs were lost when that housing complex didn't go through. Then your little horse ranch has cost the economy in this area plenty," One of the fathers added.

"Yeah and that luxury house of your was supposed to be a fire station that would protect our area, now if we were to have a fire we have to wait for a fire engine to come from the city, which is over half an hour away."

John took in a deep breath, but Elise gave his arm a squeeze and a subtle smile that no one else noticed.

Two of the fathers were steaming up to say more when the third one asked. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"I offered you a chance to tell me what you thought of me, and I've yet to been informed that you're finished." Elise offered.

"You mean you have something to say about all the things we're telling you?" the second father spoke.

"When you're ready to listen," Elise commented and then returned to her silence and John did his best to keep quiet, still, he was unable to hide his smile. Elise was wrapping them around her little finger.

There were a few more huffs and grunts but they soon turned to Elise, "Alright then, we're listening what do you have to say for yourself."

"Sure you want to know?" Elise taunted drawing them in even further.

"Yes of course we want to know, why else would we have asked?" One father spook, a little louder than was needful as he rose to his feet, only to be asked to sit down by the court official still in the room.

"Okay here it comes." Elise remained calm, irritatingly calm. "I once owned several pieces of land in this area, then after the earthquake in these parts and then a couple of sink holes broke out in another piece of land that was slated for the housing subdivision. The land developer was faced with a lot of contracts and contractors he had made commitments too. Rather than choosing to throw in the towel they negotiated for other land that I was owned at the time and the developer simply move his plans to the other locations. I made a nice profit on my property and got the land that is unfit for family style dwellings to be built on as part of the deal. I had a desire to start up a horse ranch and with the natural spring, that was confirmed after the purchase was confirmed, this land seemed perfect. Half of the land actually, the whole parcel is a bit much for our use.

"So in reality no jobs were lost, only slightly relocated. And I do have to agree with you ma'am a golf course is indeed a waist of land. However it might be something I should consider for another piece of land elsewhere, someplace in Montana. I'll have to give that some thought," Elise spoke thoughtfully. "As far as someplace for the children to play there are safety issues on our horse ranch and so far I have been unable to come up with means by which to deal with those safety issues."

"Oh, and as for the fire station that's a complicated issue that is simply summed up that with the housing development moving, this location was no longer the best place to house a fire platoon. and two, much better, locations were traded plus compensation for the one fire station. Once my husband and I were married I gave him the horse ranch and the station for a wedding gift and we've actually had fun turning it into our home."

"Now let's get back to someplace for your children to play, I have some ideas in that area but we need to figure out a way to keep children out of the horse pasture and the pond." Elise then leaned back, "It seems to me the best way to keep your children from being the biggest part of our problem, is to put them on the committee in charge of the solution."


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

When the adults left the conference room they found their nervous but not quite remorseful children sitting together on a bench with two armed bailiffs standing guard over them to keep them in place. To John's surprise, he also saw Marco Lopez and four other guys that seemed to be friends of his.

John and Elise both greeted Marco and then everyone was herded into the court room, starting with the three boys.

John helped Elise into a seat at the right of the room and Marco and his friends sat behind them while the boys and their parents filled into chairs on the left. When the bailiff asked all to rise John helped Elise to her feet and kept his arm around her waist.

As the charges were read it was discovered that the boys had terrorized other people and been responsible for at least eight trash fires in addition to the ones started on John's ranch. This was the second time in six months that they had been brought before a judge putting them in violation of their probation. With this information John looked at Elise in question of her plan but she just gave him a subtle smile.

"Mrs. Gage," The judge asked as he was flipping through a file on her desk. "Could I get you to explain this program to me in more detail?"

Elise rose to her feet as John placed a hand in the middle of her back from his seated position. "Your Honor, due to some surgery to repair some damage done to my head, I'm not able to remember all of the details of this project. I would like to direct your attention to Mr. Marco Lopez, Mr. Lopez is a member of a semi-pro Soccer league in the area in need of a place to call home, he is also a member of the fire departments community action committee in this area and has been voted as the spokesman for the combined organizations that include representatives from the police department, several church groups and a neighborhood group that have come together to turn an otherwise worthless piece of property into a neighborhood recreations area. He is prepared to give you a full explanation of the details surrounding this project and answer any questions you may have."

John helped Elise sit back down and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as Marco rose to his feet and waited for the Judge to give him permission to begin. For the next ten minutes Marco detailed the project to build a soccer field and a baseball diamond on the property next to the horse ranch. He told of the work that could be done by three rambunctious boys, none of it glamorous but all of it needed. He talked about the hazards of the nearby pond if children were to climb the fence. Marco also talked about the recent small fires that had been started and the risks if they were ever to get out of hand.

It was proposed that the boys attend a fire education camp as part of the training they would need to take part on the committee to come up with ways to make the area safer. What Marco didn't explain, but John knew full well that the Judge knew, what fire education camp was. It was a camp set up by the fire department for youth who delighted in playing with fire. It would start with a film that would last a full hour, if it was run nonstop, that contained pictures of how fast a fire could get out of hand and several pictures of burn patients, the burns when they are just beginning to be treated, the patients screaming when they are enduring debridement, the disfiguring scares left behind when the burns are declared, healed.

John himself had seen the movie, it was part of his training and had been shown to him and his fellow students in short pieces to prepare them for the work that lay ahead of them. The images were intense and led to two out of his class at the academy choosing to drop out and find another line of work.

John had also heard tales of the delinquents who had been ordered to complete said camp. Many of them ended up puking their guts up at the sights shown in the movie. The person who most often ran that camp was also famous for stopping the movie until they were done being sick to make sure they didn't miss any of it.

Before the camp would be completed there is a requirement to spend twenty hours of service in a burn rehab center where they would witness firsthand what burn patients have to endure to be able to move again. There was a particular employee at the burn rehab center that they usually used who was himself a burn patient left with severe disfigurement. The fire he survived took the life of his brother and sister and was started by a boy playing with a cigarette lighter in the apartment below his. If the movie didn't get to these boys this man would.

It was clear the young men in question didn't understand what was ahead of them when one asked. "When we get done doing all the measuring and stuff do we get to ride the horses?"

Elise turned to John and gave him a smile and a subtle nod to inform him that it was now his turn to talk.

"NO," John spoke without the preamble of addressing the judge, "The first reason is that it's not safe for you to ride my horses any more. You hurt them and now they don't trust you. They will do whatever they have to do to keep you from hurting them again."

"Awe come on, they're just dumb animals. They don't know nothin," The second boy broke in.

"They're smart enough to remember who shot at them and smart enough to do what they have to, to keep from being hurt again, and they're big enough to inflict some serious damage to a grown man let alone boys your size."

There was silence for a moment before the Judge asked a question, "Mr. Gage you said the first reason, are there any more reasons?"

"At least one your honor, Riding horses is a reward and privilege these boys have not earned, the reason they're here is to be punished for their actions that have damaged property and harmed others."

"You are very right Mr. Gage, and being as this is the second time these three boys have earned the right to enter my chambers I have to agree that they don't deserve to go horseback riding."

When the Judge was finished listening to all sides He not only ordered the three boys to complete the program that was detailed and expected to keep them busy for the next year, their parents were made responsible to supervise them and they would be given ankle bracelets to monitor their whereabouts. Marco and his group, one of them being a corrections officer would see to it that there was always something for the boys to do and in most cases would be there to show them how to do it and assist when needed but they were to do the work and their parents had to be there to watch them.

-0-

With the trouble causing boys taken care of at least temporarily, life at home station was back to normal, too much back to normal for a couple who were expecting a baby in three months or less.

John was still wrapping his head around the whole thing of being a father, with Elise as small as she was compared to his partner's and his captain's wives he just couldn't find the urgency to drop everything else and get ready for a baby.

It was easy to be drawn into working with the horses. He had three that were ready to be broke and feared a repeat of the incident that led to Elise breaking her arm. John felt an urgent need to get the horses accustomed to his voice and work with them to get them to obey some general commands. Elise agreed and was at his side adding her gentle voice to her husband's as they talked to the fillies and built a friendship of sorts.

For her part Elise did pick up baby items whenever she went shopping and kept a small notebook in her purse listing all the things she'd purchased and in the back things she thought they might need. Having grown up near an Indian reservation and worked so many years in impoverished areas Elise's list of baby essentials was much shorter than JoAnne and Emily's.

Emily had suggested throwing a baby shower but Elise felt they had asked too much from all of their friends to even consider asking them to supply the needs for the baby as well. She was sure they would be fine with what was on her list of things to get.

After a conversation where Jo and Emily were trying to justify their list even they had to admit that some of the stuff on theirs was more luxury than necessity. Jo and Emily did however convince Elise not to buy packaged receiving blankets, "Their just too small and you can't really wrap up the baby with them and they will only last the first few weeks before the baby is too big for them." Emily had explained. "I always go to the fabric store and buy the flannel, they have the cutest prints and then you make the receiving blankets that will last till the baby doesn't need them anymore."

Where JoAnne was convinced the new disposable diapers were the way to go Emily still clung to the tried and true cloth diapers and since they were in the making mode of things she made her diapers as well.

Elise often tried to schedule her appointments on the same days and times as her two care givers had their appointments in order to make life easier for them. One John's next shift back it was organized that he would take Elise to the hospital on his way to work where she would get her x-rays and EKG run before her first appointment later that morning. Then both Emily, who had the watch on Elise that shift, and JoAnne would meet up with her after all their doctors appointments were done and the activity of the afternoon was going to be making receiving blankets and diapers.

To make sure he would be ready for roll call John chose to wear his uniform into work and they were off.

"Have I ever told you how sexy you look in uniform," Elise surprised John as he drove.

He glanced at her and smiled the warmest most excited smile he had and since the rover was in cruising gear he had a free hand to reach over and take her hand in his. "Too bad we can't act on that thought right now."

"It'll wait till you get home in the morning." Elise smiled back seductively.

"Are you sure it's alright for us to be doing that sort of thing right now."

"Uh hu, it's perfectly safe and right now we don't even have to worry about protection. It's not like I can get pregnant again right now." Elise tantalized as she toyed with John's right hand ready to let it go if he needed to shift.

"Promise you won't clobber me with that cast of yours."

"I plan to use it to hold you close." Elise smiled seductively.

It was the screech of breaks that pulled their complete attention to the road ahead of them as they watched one car swerve to keep from hitting the car that cut in front of them and ended up crashing into the side panel of the car in the next lane. Before all motion stopped two tires blew and one car rested unstably on its side while the other entangled itself in the guard rail and teetered over the edge of a slightly steep embankment. Knowing just what to do John pulled his car off to the side of the road and both he and Elise piled out to see what they could do. Elise was limited and she knew it, the cast on her harm that had been an annoyance was never more so than at that moment but she did have one good arm and that she would use to the fullest of her abilities.

John was able to position his Rover and use the winch on the front of it to pull the one car back onto the road enough to stabilize it. Elise was put in charge of the woman and two children in that car while John climbed into the car on its side. By the time the emergency teams arrived, which included station 51 with an annoyed Carlson in the squad covering for John who failed to show up at work on time, all John and Elise needed were a few back boards to get the victims packaged and ready to go.

"That was a good idea to use the spare tires to stabilize the cars there John," Captain Stanley commented as they were pulling the victim out of the overturned car.

"It was Elise's idea, something she used to do all the time back in Montana."

"Yeah well that little truck of hers wouldn't hold a lot of cribbing now would it," Hank marveled again at the conditions the people in that area had to work under.

Elise was put in the cab of the last ambulance to get her to the hospital while John was given a slap on the back and sent to the station. Carlson calmed down now that he understood why John was late.

-0-

As was agreed when Elise was done with her appointments she called John at the station with a report of all that her doctors had to say. When John walked away from the phone he was clearly unhappy and both Roy and Cap were quick to find out what had been said.

"She didn't get there in time to get her arm x-rayed again before her appointment but the orthopedist wasn't worried about that he said it could wait till next time. Her cardiologist was in a waterskiing accident over the weekend and dislocated his hip; he'll be out of action for at least six weeks. Elise had to see one of his associates today and she didn't think he was totally on board with her case so far. Anyway he was uptight about her blood pressure and heart rate and changed some of her medications. I'd have thought given the action she was in this morning that they might want to just watch her for another week before they start messing up the drug regiments that are working right now," John finished.

"Well, you do understand that they're going to be extra aggressive right now, with the baby and all," Roy added.

"Relax there pal, she's going to have both Em and JoAnne fussing over her today she'll be fine."

"Yeah you're right," John smiled back and did feel relieved.

-0-

From the hospital three women went straight to a favored fabric store and were immediately taken in by all of the cute baby prints available to them. An hour and a half later they walked out carrying enough fabric to make a dozen receiving blankets for each of the three expectant mothers and three dozen diapers a piece for Elise and Emily.

Back at home station the three women worked together to fix a lunch that catered to all of their cravings and after the dishwasher was loaded and Elise took her mid-day meds, including the new one, they started spreading the fabric out and cutting it to measurements. With three sewing machines set up in the bay and three women working together, two of them experienced, the blankets were quickly done and the crew started working on the prefolded diapers that Elise had seen used in Montana.

Emily had seen them too and liked the idea, the pattern was simple you simply took the ten yard section of fabric, the large bay floor made this work a lot easier than most homes, and folded it placing several layers down the middle to put absorption where the baby needed it most. Then all that was left to do was two straight top stitching seams to hold the folds in place and cut the diapers to size and zigzag the edges to prevent fraying.

Both JoAnne and Elise marveled at Emily's ability to measure a yard of fabric by stretching it from the thumb and forefinger of her outstretched hand to her nose. Elsie was noticing a lack of energy as she seated herself on the floor of the bay to help fold the fabric and offer directions. JoAnne had just made quick work of pinning the folds in place when she looked up to see Elise had fallen back against the floor.

Both women rushed to her side and were relieved that she wasn't having a seizure but their relieve was short lived, Elise was unconscious, and a quick check of her pulse found it weak under their fingers. After quickly taking a blood pressure it was too low. Way too low.

Author's note: I really am starting to bring this segment of the story to a close. I just want to make it an exciting ending. Please hang on and I hope I can create in words the wild ride that is in my mind.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

At Station 51 the crew were finally getting together to discuss some action plans for four new businesses that would be going into operations in their response area. Everyone in the room was trying to mentally tune out the overhead radio chatter as Cap drew his rough building diagram on the chalk board.

They managed to miss the first part of the call that was being sent out to station 85, but John's attention was drawn back to the loud speakers as the address was read, then the address was repeated and John was on his feet, panic covering his face. "That's my place!"

"What?" Hank jumped to attention, there was a reason why their calls were preceded by loud tones to get their attention first.

"They just dispatched squad 85 to my house!" John repeated.

Roy was quickly at Johnny's side taking a hold of his arm as he was looking like he was about to dart to the squad and pull out.

"I wasn't paying attention, did any one hear what the call was?" Cap inquired, He knew as well as John did that it was likely to be Elise they were responding to help but he also knew that if it wasn't Elise then it could be his wife or Roy's.

"It was a woman down call, cap," Mike revealed that he had paid attention.

Hank Stanley took a deep breath and let it out before placing his hand on John's shoulder. "Easy there pal it's probably just one of her seizures or something simple like that, you know the girls have been instructed to call in help over the littlest thing. Especially now that we know she's pregnant."

John let out a steadying breath and dangled his arms in an effort to relax, "yeah, yeah your right."

"Besides that," Chet made an effort to calm his friend, "the call was for a woman down you really have no idea which woman, I mean isn't there always more than one there."

Hank and Roy exchanged glances as they considered the slight possibility that it was either of their wives.

"Thanks a lot pal." Hank called out to his lineman. "Alright, we're not going to be able to focus on this exercise until we know for sure who and that everything is all right. Can you guys at least pretend you have some supplies to pick up at the hospital?"

"Actually Cap we do need some Saline. That burn patient this morning used up all we had and then the other paramedics on scene took them in so we haven't had the opportunity to replace it yet," Roy explained.

"Well you just got it, just remember not to run code R and to keep yourselves available." Captain Stanley gave his men permission to leave.

John quickly ran around the squad and climbed in on the passenger side while Cap walked Roy to the squad, "Um, you will give me a call if it turns out to be Em won't you?"

"Of course Cap," Roy smiled with his answer.

"Of course I want to know who ever it is, I just meant incase I personally need to get over there," Hank amended slightly.

"We understand Cap," Johnny gave his captain a worried smile but a smile none the less as the garage door opened and Roy started the squad's engine. Roy then proceeded to drive Johnny nuts by driving the speed limit on their way to the hospital.

The two worried paramedics still arrived ahead of squad 85, Johnny tried to push his way into the radio booth but soon felt the hand of Dixie pulling his collar and him back out.

One look at Dixie and John knew it was Elise, and he knew it was serious. It was all Roy could do to keep him out of the way once Elise was rolled in.

Elise was rolled pass them in trendelenburg position with her feet elevated, both paramedics were at her side one holding forced ventilation, the other holding two IV bags high. John couldn't see her face easily around the oxygen mask but his brief glimpse as she was rushed past him didn't look like she was conscious.

John tried to follow into the exam room but Roy wrapped his arms around his chest and held on, keeping him back. Finally Roy managed to drag his partner into the doctor's lounge and pushed him down into a chair. After several minutes Dixie came in to inform Johnny that Elise was stable and the doctor would be with him in a few more minutes to discuss what had happened and her care.

Once Johnny was calmed down and assured all would be fine, Roy left to give the captain an update call while John stayed behind and waited where he felt he would be easy for the doctor to find.

Roy had just left when two doctors entered the doctor's lounge one was Elise's obstetrician the other he had never met before but they were both carrying on a rather heated debate, "your treatment has put her in the hospital and you want to continue it? Just how can you justify that?" The obstetrician Dr. Anderton was questioning rather loudly.

"I believe this patient has a chance, with proper treatment, to heal all the damage that has been done to her heart." The new doctor carried on.

"And what about the life of her unborn child, The blood pressure you're suggesting won't sustain the infant growing inside of her," Dr. Anderton challenged.

"She should have never gotten pregnant in the first place." The other doctor countered heaping guilt on John's shoulders much heavier than he'd been carrying since he first suspected the possibility that his forgetfulness had led to such a thing.

"Yeah, well life happens sometimes and it's my experience that that is usually a very good thing." Dr. Anderton countered.

The volume of the two doctor's voices brought Doctors Bracket and Early into the room, "Dr. Mickelson, I'm afraid I have to agree with Dr. Anderton, I happen to know that my patient would not agree to the life your treatment would force on her, and the depression it would cause could be more damaging than all of her health issues combined. This patient is not a lab subject, she is a strong willed and accomplished human being with plans for her life that include living it to its fullest." Dr Early was doing the talking.

Dr. Brackett noticed Johnny sitting in the back ground listening to everything that was being said and motioned for him to follow him. As soon as the two of them had stepped through the door into the hall John grabbed Dr. Brackett's arm and turned him so that they were face to face. "What's this about a treatment that can heal the damage done to Elise's heart? Is there any truth in it?"

Dr. Brackett's mouth started to twitch and he pulled Johnny just a little farther down the hall to a slightly more private spot. "There is some research that is showing some promise. But Johnny your wife is not a candidate for that research."

"Is that just because she's pregnant?" John questioned the doctor as well as his own willingness to sacrifice his unborn child to the better good of his wife.

"Not just that," Dr. Brackett spoke quickly, understanding very well what the paramedic and loving devoted husband before him was thinking, "The nature of the injuries to your wife's heart are inconsistent with the research that is being done. I can also tell you that we've been suspecting for a while now, ever since the last of the foreign debris has been removed from your wife's heart, that it has been healing quite nicely under the treatment she has already been getting. I've sat in on a few discussions concerning your wife since that time and while it's too early to know for sure just yet, with what we're seeing there is a real possibility that when the battery on her pacemaker runs out she may not need it replaced."

"You mean she might not need the pacemaker in the future?" Johnny questioned with excitement.

"Remember what I said Johnny, at this point it's too soon to tell for sure," Dr. Brackett cautioned as he placed both hands on John's shoulders, "but there are some real indications that there is a real possibility of that."

John stood in the doctor's grasp letting the news flush through him, then a loud yell from the doctor's lounge pulled his attention back there. "So this new doctor is out in left field?"

"Johnny I could get in trouble for saying this, but yeah, I don't think he has your wife's overall health and well being in mind with the treatment he is insisting on. He definitely doesn't know your wife like we do."

"So what do we need to do now?" John questioned gesturing toward the treatment room he knew his wife was in.

"Well, it's my recommendation that we watch her carefully until the new drug that's dropped her blood pressure too low is out of her system, we need to be careful not to drive it too high with counter measures, so I'm prescribing that she have her vitals checked every fifteen minutes through the night and if adjustments need to happen they take place in tiny increments as the night goes on. However due to your wife's other medical issues and the health plan that she has we'll need to put her—"

"In ICU," John finished the good Doctor's sentence.

"That's correct, Johnny but I don't want you to worry, if all goes as I'm sure it will, you'll be able to take her home tomorrow."

John sighed in relief. "Can I see her?"

"Sure, right this way." Dr. Brackett started to lead the way.

"Just a minute," John stopped and turned back to the doctor's lounge, "I have something I need to do."

Once through the door John just walked up to the three doctor's that were still arguing the course of treatment and turned to both Dr. Early and Dr. Anderton, "Can you two find another Cardiologist that will work with you and not fight you?"

All three doctors were stunned into silence by the question but Dr. Early recovered the fastest. "Yes we can."

"Do it. And Dr. whoever you are, you're off the case." John then turned to leave.

"Just who do you think you are and what right do you have to dismiss me?"

"I have a medical power of attorney." Johnny gave as his last word and left the room without another.

John was then led to Elise's room as if he didn't already know the way but before he stepped inside he turned back to Dr. Brackett. "Thanks for being open and honest with me Doc. I really appreciate it."

John then saw two very pregnant and frantic friends and motioned them toward him. Taking both JoAnne and Emily in his arms at the same time he started shushing them and telling them that everything was alright.

"You both did all the right things, Elise is going to be just fine now. Now both of you settle down neither of you are in a condition to go getting all upset. We don't want you two to have any problems now."

Seeing his partner stepping up behind the women John put them both in his care before stepping in to visit with his wife for a moment before they moved her up to ICU.

John and Roy were called out to assist in a structure fire before Elise was moved, but when they took their victims, two boys that had been playing with matches and managed to burn their hands, to the hospital John took a moment to run up to ICU and check in on his wife. He would do that every time he was in the hospital through the night.

On the way back to the station, the tired and dirty paramedics rode silently until Roy broke the silence.

"I really appreciated you taking the time to calm my wife down at the hospital earlier, I know cap does too."

"What happened wasn't their fault, and they did everything right when it did happen," John countered. "The last thing I want or Elise for that matter is for them to get all upset and go into premature labor."

"Marco's older sister has taken the training to take care of Elise during the day, she's going to be helping her mother next week to finish learning the ropes and Brenda will be there at night. So when ever Jo and Cap's wife need to break away to take care of themselves just say the word." Johnny added.

Once at the station John gave Mike, his new tenant, a call and asked him to feed the colt while Roy filled Cap in on all the details of their wife's needs. It was after dinner when they finished their training but no one complained.

-0-

John did take Elise home the next day; because she had been kept awake all night by the vitals checks she was taken right to bed for some serious sleep, Even though the diaper making project they had been working on when she lost consciousness, was still covering a portion of the bay floor.

The new cardiologist had decided to return Elise to the previous medications schedule but prescribed frequent blood pressure checks and bed rest if it was above the set parameters.

After sleeping the better part of the day, Elise spent the late afternoon and evening hours working on the diapers only slightly hampered by her broken and casted arm. She did take a break to feed her four legged baby, her very large four legged baby, and fix dinner for she and John but that was about it.

The next day, while John worked with the horses, Elise started putting all of the blankets and newly made diapers and other baby things through the wash. John came in and showered in time to help her fold all the foreign objects that had been placed on the bed after coming out of the dryer.

Handling baby clothes was what John needed for the pregnancy to feel real to him. JoAnne and Emily's blankets and diapers were placed in plastic bags and sealed for John to take to work with him on his next shift and Elise placed their baby's things in the little dresser she had found at a thrift store and painted with bright colors.

There were a dozen tiny t-shirts, three dozen diapers, a dozen receiving blankets of various prints, and a package of baby socks and several generic night gowns. When they were finished and the packages for Emily and JoAnne were placed in the Rover, Elise sat on her bed and sighed. "I think we're ready. If this baby were born tomorrow we have everything we need to keep it warm, dry, and loved."

John lay awake that night feeling slightly in disagreement to his wife's feelings of readiness.

On his next shift he and Roy were performing an inspection on a boutique that carried among other things a selection of baby items.

After citing them for not keeping their emergency exit clear and easily accessible and the need for a fire extinguisher, Johnny went shopping.

When the men arrived back at the fire station for lunch John enjoyed showing off his purchases, four of the cutest little dresses he'd ever seen, Pink, yellow, peach and blue, with lots of lace and ruffles and even the little panties that went under the dress, also with lots of lace and ruffles. Two lacy bonnets, one that could be taken apart to make a hankie for the baby's wedding day. And three pair of hand knitted booties one of which looked like a pair of roller skates.

Even though his shift mates thought him a little nuts they were all enjoying Johnny's excitement and had to agree the dresses were real cute.

When he went to go hang the tiny dresses in his locker, Chet was quick to comment on the prospected look on the face of the chief if he were to do an inspection while they were hanging in John's locker. They all laughed at that mental image.

"So, I guess he knows he's getting a little girl," Hank commented to Roy during a quiet time later that evening.

"With all the tests their running on Elise, I'm not surprised that they know what they're having," Roy answered. "With one of each, Jo and I are just happy with whatever we get. What about you Cap, what do you want, boy or girl?"

"Well Roy this is number five for Em and I, with three boys and a girl already we'd like another little girl but we'll be happy no matter what, we just want it to be healthy and whichever we get we'll love it."


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

In the days after the drastic drop in blood pressure, Elise experienced a couple of days of deep depression. Dr. Early assured her it was a side effect of discontinuing the medication and since she had only taken the one dose she should get through it quickly. During those days John never left Elise's side and never missed a chance to tell her how much he loved her.

Seeing her husband show off the little dresses he had bought brought a smile to Elise, and the depression lifted quickly to John's pleasure. Every time she looked at them she knew what he was hoping for.

As of yet they were like most people and waiting for the delivery to find out for sure whether they had a boy of a girl. The doctors had suggested doing an amniocentesis where they draw some of the amniotic fluid and test it. That would surely tell them weather they were having a boy or a girl or any other birth defects but the chance of sending Elise into premature labor was too high for Elise to be willing to submit to said test yet. They would do and amniocentesis just before the scheduled Cesarean section to make sure the lungs were appropriately developed that would be soon enough.

Since Elise felt she had everything they needed in place for the baby she focused on getting the rest of her life in order. Young Guardian Warrior was weaned from a bottle and doing fine on oats and hay. Johnny had worked with the three fillies and they now came to a simple whistle whether it was from him or Elise. Her arm healed and the cast was removed leaving her just a few weeks to get it back in shape before she would be lifting the baby.

John had also managed to saddle brake them and could ride them but there had been no attempt to get Elise up on their backs, they would wait until after the baby was born. If Elise had a problem with that she didn't let it show, she seemed very happy to wrap her arms around their necks for hugs and to brush their coats.

Mike and Brenda were regular dinner guests as their wedding day grew closer, John would frequently spend a couple of hours helping Mike study to be a paramedic, he enjoyed John giving him actual examples where the things he learned would be put to use, and Elise enjoyed listening to Brenda talk about wedding plans. Fortunately for Elise Brenda's mother and sisters were eager and willing to do everything for the wedding.

Bed rest was taking care of Elise's blood pressure, whenever it started to rise, but as the pregnancy advanced she was spending more and more time in bed. Elise spent most of her time in bed on the phone with people in Montana working on a project there that would take the pressure off the land she was determined to keep safe for the care of wild horses that ran in the area. When she was up walking around she would check on the horses and on the progress of the recreation park being built next to them. Progress was slow there but it was being done by a mostly volunteer work force. When it was done it was going to be a symbol of community pride.

Marco reported often during shifts that the three boys were starting to get excited about the project and there was a bit of maturing taking place in them. Though they were still boys they were taking on this project as something to be proud of and had started educating their peers in the proper way to maintain the facilities instead of vandalize them.

-0-

John arrived for work early and headed straight for the captain's office. "Hi cap ya got 'a minute?"

"Sure John, have a seat." Hank set his pen down and looked up at John, relieved not to see a panicked look on the young man's face, "What's up?"

"I just wanted to tell you that they've scheduled Elise's C section." The two men then pulled the calendar out and John started pointing at dates. "If all goes as planned they're going to take the baby this day, then I'll work this day and hopefully she'll be ready to go home after these two shifts. They are planning to keep her a while because of everything she has going on and all."

"Oh I was sure they would do that," Hank commented on John's news. "Then you'll have four days off before your next shift, is that going to be enough or are you going to try and schedule some days off."

"Elise's Aunt and Uncle are coming to help out for a week or so and maybe one of her sisters. So I should be able to come back to work."

"You'll need to if you're going to get any sleep," Hank joked.

"So I've been told," John lumped, "Are babies really that bad about staying up all night?" "I mean it's real important for Elise to get her sleep to prevent her from having seizures."

Hank sobered up a little at that reminder, "I'm afraid little ones do take a while to get their days and nights straight and most all babies, especially those that are taken early need to be fed anywhere from every two to four hours."

"Have you talked to Elise's doctors about this?"

"Yeah, some," John revealed, "They're trying to find us some information to help." John fiddled with his jacket in his hands, "They said I should plan to do the night feedings whenever I can." "Brenda, the nurse that's moving in and stays nights is looking for some information too. We're going to pick up a baby buggy to push the kid around the house in because Elise is afraid she'll have a seizure while she's carrying the baby and drop it." "It all seems like, I don't know, like parenthood for her is a really scary prospect. But I know she'll be a wonderful mother, just look at what she's done for that colt she took care of."

"I'm sorry John, I wish there was something I could say that would help," Hank offered his friendship; "I have to confess that I can't even begin to know what you're going through."

"I guess it's just like everything else in life." John sighed, "We just have to take everything one day at a time."

"Yeah that's how it is for everybody; it's just that most of us haven't learned life's lesson as well as you have." Hank smiled, he was grateful that John had made it possible for his wife to be at home at night and to slow down with the advancement of her pregnancy. "Well it looks like just maybe we'll be able to stager our time off so that we won't all be out at the same time." Hank commented and made notations on his calendar.

-0-

Baby names were a common topic of conversation at the station during dinner as due dates grew near. John was clueless he was still in many ways getting used to the idea that there was going to be a baby at his house.

"Yeah, well as far as my wife and I go we still have lots of family names to work with and we've found it better to wait till we actually see the kid before we pick out a name." Hank informed his men when they pressed him for his choice of names.

"JoAnne and I have a couple of names picked out but as far as the kids go, Jenny will only accept a little girl named 'Barbie,' and Chris is adamant that we're having a little boy named Han Solo DeSoto." Roy reveled, "little do they know we're not planning to use either name."

The day after Elise was scheduled for her C-section the crew of station 51 gathered in the locker room to get ready for their shift.

"So how's Johnny's wife doing, did everything go alright with his baby yesterday?" Chet eagerly asked feeling a little hurt that no one had called him the day before with all the weight and length and time of birth details.

"I haven't heard yet," Roy reveled, knowing everyone was expecting him to have the answers. That's when John walked in pulling his jacket off and every one huddled around him and stood silently waiting for the information and a picture they were sure to see.

John was feeling slightly claustrophobic all of a sudden but he knew what they wanted.

"They didn't do it yesterday." He spoke before he turned around and sat in his locker. He was the only on at the station who had narrow enough hips to actually sit inside his locker. "They did an amniocentesis and it showed that the baby's lungs aren't quite ready yet. Everything else checked out all right with Elise so they decided to wait another week as long as there are no complications."

It was a long shift, lots of runs and a long drawn out warehouse fire that lasted late into the early morning hours. When the men of station 51 arrived home all they wanted was their beds. They had a quick twenty four hour turn around and then back to the station to do it all again.

When John got home he found Marco's sister there watching over Elise with her three kids ages 6, 5 and not quite 3. The kids were running around the bay with model airplanes in their hands making motor noises while Elise sat in a chair with her feet up. John would have liked to ask Marina to stay longer so that he could sleep but he could tell with one look at his wife that she was very ready for some peace and quiet. John took the sixty second report on his wife's blood pressure from the day before and said good bye before taking his wife by the hand and helping her from her chair before leading her to their room where she was willing to lay next to him while he slept.

Hank walked into his house to find the contents of the kitchen cupboards stacked on the table and his wife scrubbing the shelves where the items had once been. Hank helped her down from the step stool that she really shouldn't have been on in the first place and washed the cupboards she couldn't reach while standing flat on the floor and replacing the items on them before he had to give up and go to bed for a few hours. Before he went to sleep however he called the captain who had agreed to cover for him if his wife went into labor while he was on shift and told him to expect a call tomorrow. From past experience that baby would be here within the next day, two at the most.

Roy took his children to school for his wife before going to bed but he was awakened by his wife three times, to time her contractions. She had three fifteen to twenty minutes apart, but when Roy chose to stay awake figuring this was it, the contractions stopped.

-0-

Hank woke up in the late afternoon to his grumbling stomach, He checked his bedside clock to see that dinner should be ready soon and got up to go try and snitch a taste to get him by till it was served. When he got to the kitchen he noticed his wife putting the final items back in the refrigerator after cleaning it out. Then he noticed her pause and stand frozen in place, her hands gripping the edge of the counter.

Understanding Hank stepped up behind her and placed one hand on her stomach and with his other brought his watch into view. When Emily let out her breath and relaxed all over Hank spoke.

"That one lasted about 40 seconds, how often are they coming?"

Emily leaned back against her husband as he put his arms around her to hold her up. She let out a deep breath and studied the clock. "That's only the third one, the last one was fifteen minutes ago."

"I think it's time we declared the kitchen clean enough for the time being." Hank gave his wife a knowing smile and started to lead her into the living room. He stopped just long enough to grab a large plastic garbage bag from the kitchen drawer and then left his wife for just a moment to grab a couple of towels from the linen closet before hollering, "Kenneth."

While Hank waited for his oldest son to respond to his beckoning call, he placed the plastic bag on the most comfortable chair in the room and then covered it with the towels before helping his wife to sit down. He was just moving a foot stool under his wife's feet when his son finally entered the room.

"Yeah, dad what do you want?"

Hank reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet stretching it out toward his son, "Why don't you order pizza, and do you think you and your sister could manage to throw together a salad while we're waiting for them to deliver it."

"Cool, can I order any toppings I want?"

"Just make sure the anchovies are on the side," Hank knew his son pretty well. He also knew the pizzeria would just send those things along still in the can, so that the rest of his family didn't have to endure them.

As his son ran for the phone Hank went to the front closet. "Em, would you prefer Gin Rummy or Pinochle?"

Being their fifth time around they knew there was no reason to rush in to the hospital yet. Their doctor had always advised them that as long as everything else looked okay to wait until the contractions were around five minutes apart and lasting a full minute. If they went in any sooner Hank knew that his wife would endure extra cervical checks by clumsy interns and he also knew how much she disliked that. So just like they had done for babies 2, 3, and 4, they would play games until the contractions were closer and then go to the hospital.

"How about Parcheesi," Emily suggested and since she was the one in labor if she wanted to play Parcheesi they would play Parcheesi.

When the Pizza was delivered Ken dutifully paid for it and was carrying it back to the kitchen when he stopped to tell his dad dinner was ready. When he stepped into the living room, Pizza in one hand with a can of anchovies balanced on the top, and his father's wallet in the other, he watched his dad with his hand on his mothers bulging belly and keeping an eye on his watch as he coaxed her to breathe.

"Well honey, their getting closer together and lasting longer, I think this is it." Hank commented as his wife began to relax.

"The bab –baby's coming now?" Ken stammered in the doorway, "D-do I need to boil some water? Do you want me to call an ambulance?"

"Noo, calm down there," Hank called out with a smile that he shared with his wife. "We've got a long time yet, I'll get your mom to the hospital in plenty of time." Hank then took his wallet back from his son and placed it on the table before thinking he didn't want to take a chance of forgetting it and getting pulled over on the way to the hospital so he picked it back up and slipped it in his pocket.

Emily had been listening to her husband's stomach rumble and knew he was hungry; she coaxed her son to sit with her for a few minutes while his father ate. Hank was grateful and was back with his teeth brushed before the next contraction hit.

After dinner was eaten and everything cleaned up the children hesitantly came to the living room door and watched their parents finish their first round of Parcheesi in total confusion.

"Are you planning to have the baby here?" the third son questioned why they were just sitting around playing games when his mother had been reported to be in labor.

Mother and father smiled at each other and the children were invited in for a discussion on what was happening, what was expected to happen, and what the game plan was, they then all got together and played another game of Parcheesi as a family.

When bedtime rolled around the contractions were still between eight and ten minutes apart and hadn't progressed in over an hour. Reluctantly the children went to bed and Hank gave his replacement a call confirming he was needed on shift in the morning before he and Emily started another game of Parcheesi.

-0-

Roy and JoAnne finally went to bed, however neither of them expected to sleep through the night. The children were already sleeping over at the neighbors and JoAnne's suitcase was already in the station wagon so when the time came they'd just have to get up and go.

-0-

It was just after eleven thirty that night when the contractions reached five minute intervals.  
>"Well I think it's time we headed for the hospital now." Hank suggested.<p>

"I want to finish the game first," Emily insisted.

Hank agreed but deliberately lost so that they could head out. While Emily made a trip to the bathroom Hank loaded her suitcase in the car and placed her plastic bag and some clean towels on the seat. He then returned and walked her to the car and they were off.

They were just driving around the corner from their house when the next contraction started, this one was accompanied by the unmistakable splash of her water breaking, the next contraction started before they reached the first traffic light.

"Maybe we shouldn't have finished that last game," Emily commented with the light finally turned green.

"Yeah," Hank commented and focused all of his energy in reminding himself he didn't have a light and siren on this car.

-0-

John was sleeping soundly but Elise couldn't sleep, she was restless and started walking laps around the station bay. Tonight was one of the few nights that Brenda was working night shift and Mike was on duty. Finally she realized something wasn't quite right and sat on the bed next to her husband.

"John," she gave his shoulder a gentle shake bringing him quickly awake. "I think there's a problem."

It was at that moment that a sharp pain entered Elise's chest and she gasped for air. John was out of bed and taking Elise by the shoulders instantly.

"Okay Elise, tell me what's going on." John questioned as he tried to get her to lie down on the bed.

"NO, can't breathe lying down." Elise fought his efforts until he quickly stacked the pillows against the headboard and helped her to lay back against them. "My chest is getting kind of tight. Until that pain hit I could breath alright but—" just then another pain hit and Johnny ran for his first aid kit.

He was watching his wife breath and knew she needed oxygen he picked up the bedside phone and called for a squad then asked them to connect him to Rampart."

Author's note: sorry this chapter is just getting too long we're going to have to deliver all of the excitement in the next one.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

Hank was watching the time between contractions as he drove, they were coming every two minutes now. During the labors of his first and third children the doctors had broken Emily's membranes, saying it would speed the delivery along, it only stood to reason it would have the same effect if they broke on their own. Hank turned on a back street to avoid traffic as he thought back on previous delivery to remember how long it took from this point on.

"Hank!" Emily called out as she started another contraction, "I feel the baby."

"Hang in there Em, we're just five blocks away," Hank encouraged, "It's going to be close but we'll make it in time."

"Next time we leave before the game is finished," Emily panted out.

Hank laughed at that thought and reached to take Emily's hand as he coaxed her to keep breathing.

Then he pulled up to a string of six cars that were stopped, a head of them was an extra long double fuel tanker trying to jockey it's position into a gas station to make a delivery. The turn was tighter than was practical for such a long tanker and he had to pull forward then back up several times to make it to the place he was to unload his cargo. A couple of police officers were there to keep the traffic calm as the tanker worked into position. Hank made a quick look in preparation of a U turn and was trying to figure out where to go from there.

"Hank!"

They were only two blocks away, Hank could see the lights of the upper floors of the hospital above the trees and the tanker.

"Hank!" Emily screamed again and Hank made his decision.

He quickly shifted into park and put on the emergency brake and turn on his emergency flashers and flew out of the car and around to his wife's door. Opening both her door and the back door Hank lifted her up and placed her in the back seat helping her to slide in far enough to lay down. Her suit case was pushed to the floor between the seat and the front seats. He then went to the trunk for his first aid kit that he kept there.

-0-

John had managed to get a full set of vitals and call them into Rampart. They weren't the worse vitals he had ever taken but they weren't the best either, it was the pale and bluish color and the panic in Elise's eyes that worried John the most.

The Doctor he had been talking to over the phone wanted her on Oxygen and he wanted an EKG strip sent, they would have to wait for the squad for both of those. John was unfamiliar with the doctor on the phone but he was told that Dr. Early was on his way. While they waited John managed to run push the button to open the bay door and hoped it was one of the close by stations that responded because they knew to just pull in and where the bedroom was from the bay.

John was listening for fetal heart tones when the first emergency vehicle arrived. It was an engine not the squad they parked on the drive in front of one of the closed bay doors.

"The Squad's coming from Rampart, they're going to be another minute or two," the Captain explained, but at least they had the oxygen Elise needed.

"John, if something were to happen to me, during delivery, you wouldn't take it out on the baby would you?" Elise pleaded with John after pulling the Oxygen mask away from her face.

Her question brought tears to John's eyes, he had once been willing to sacrifice the child to save her, his willingness only lasted a few short moments before he got the whole picture but if he had to choose between his child and his wife, he would choose Elise. He couldn't face the thought of losing his wife.

He already knew that Elise had been able to feel the baby moving inside of her much more than he had and that the child was so much more real to her than to him but he loved her so much and the child she carried was someone he hadn't met yet.

"Nothing's going to happen to you." John had insisted as he put the mask back in place, "help is on the way, we'll get you to the hospital and they'll take care of everything you're going to be just fine."

"But John I need to know if you can love our child," Elise insisted. "You wouldn't hate our child if I didn't make it, would you?"

After a long sigh John realized that Elise really needed an answer from him, with the fire crew looking on John tenderly brushed his fingers at the side of her face as he talked. "Elise I don't want to lose you, and if that happened, I would have a hard time, without you here I'm not sure I'd know how to take care of a baby, but I'd do my best. As far as blaming the child, no, no, I couldn't do that, It was our choice to engage in the activity that created this little life, the baby is totally innocent." John reached out and rubbed her stomach that was calm as was usual for her. "I don't know if I could handle losing you, but if that were to happen this little life would be a part of you I could continue to hold and love."

"But nothing's going to happen to you, Help is on the way, your vitals look pretty good and now that you have the oxygen you're going to be alright until we can get you to the hospital." John continued, he remembered that Elise was a nurse, there was no bluffing her but he could turn a positive view on things.

The squad had just been waved into the bay when Elise went into a full Grand Mall seizure, the likes of which Johnny had never seen before. Not even before her brain surgery.

-0-

In the middle of the road just less than two blocks from the hospital Hank was pulling a pair of sterile gloves on his hands. His first aid kit was nothing compared to what he knew his two paramedics had on hand but he neither had the knowhow to use all the stuff they had or the connections to get it. He was just looking under Emily's dress when one of the officers that had been directing traffic approached to check out the emergency flashers.

"Sir, can I be of service?"

"How long before that tanker is out of the way?" Hank asked as he adjusted the focus of the officer's flashlight with a move of his shoulder so that he could get a better look.

"Oh it should only be another five minutes." The officer responded.

"That won't be fast enough," Hank responded as Emily's next contraction started before her last one finished. With the help of the flashlight he was able to see a nice bulge covered with dark hair appearing"

Emily let out a scream and the police officer figured out what was happening, "Sir, I'm a police officer I'm trained to assist in child birth." The police officer stated as he was gently trying to move Hank out of his way.

"I'm a fire captain, and I've had the same training in that area as you've had, Nothing personal but, and Em, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but since it's between you and me I think my wife would rather have my hands down here than those of a total stranger."

"You have a point there," the police officer backed away grabbing a sight seer to hold his flashlight for the busy captain. "I'll just check with some of the other drivers here and see if any of them have a newspaper or something to wrap the baby in."

"I have a better idea, in the suitcase on the floor over there are some receiving blankets could you get those out for me." Hank instructed and the officer was very quickly around the car and opening the other door, once he pulled the suit case out and open he draped the blankets over the back of the seat within easy reach of the fire captain in charge and then offered a hand for Emily to give a good tight squeeze as she pushed.

This was Hanks third delivery since he had joined the fire department, both of the others were early in his career, before the paramedic program got started and while the rescue squad was busy in other areas. Since this one was his own it might as well have been his first. Still he had the training and the calm captain frame of mind, he managed to stay focused. Once the head was delivered he fumbled with his first aid kit till the police officer as his wife's head managed to reach for the bulb syringe and hand it to him. He quickly suctioned out the airway of his emerging infant and then helped the baby to roll to the side, gently pulling down on the head Hank aided the first shoulder through the opening the second came easily and then there was a very slippery baby in his hands. Fighting to keep control of the infant as it started to cry, the police officer could see what was happening and pulled one of the receiving blankets over on top of the mother's stomach. But not before asking, "Do we need the blue one or the pink one?"

"Pink," Hank called out and Emily let out a squeal of delight. Hank managed to get control of the baby enough to lift it into the blanket before he started to wrap her up tight to keep her warm, being careful to work around the umbilical cord.

The police officer then looked at his watch. "12:15 a.m. not a bad way to start the new day, not if you ask me any way."

"Now have you got something in that box there to tie off the cord?" the police officer questioned in a helpful manner.

"No," Hank shook his head and took in a deep calming breath as he basked in the sight of his newest little princess. "We'll just have to make sure we keep the placenta higher than the baby, that's if it comes loose before we get to the hospital."

Just then there was a slight gush of blood and the large clot like placenta came forth. "Hand me that plastic bag there," Hank instructed pointing with a nod of his head as he took hold of the equally slippery object and lifted it as high as he could. The police officer ran around the car and helped Hank slip the placenta inside the bag and then held it as Hank rolled up the garbage bag and towels under his wife and replaced them with a blanket he had retrieved from the trunk.

"Why don't you get in the front seat and hold this while I drive the rest of the way to the hospital."

By then the tanker had pulled into the station far enough that the other officer was able to guide the make shift ambulance around and back onto the road. The police officer's partner would be by to pick him up as soon as he was done on scene.

-0-

Dr. Early arrived at the base station just as one of the paramedics from 98 picked up the phone handset that was resting on the night stand.

"WE have a grand mall seizer going on Doc. In addition to whatever you've been told about before." the first paramedic gave a clearly alarmed yell into the phone while the second one just started grabbing pillows and throwing them into a corner.

The ambulance was right behind the squad so Dr. Early ordered a paralyzing drug to stop the seizures and an Esophageal air way in place and then move it.

The captain moved John to the cab of the ambulance, as only a captain could, other men handed him his slippers and a robe since he was only wearing a pair of jogging shorts. Both paramedics climbed in the back and with two slaps on the back doors and the ambulance pulled out at top speed, Johnny was turned around looking the window into the back, watching the two medics work franticly to get the EKG hooked up and the a second IV started as the ambulance was on the move. How could things go so bad so fast?"

-0-

"Do you have a name picked out," the police officer looked to Hank and then in the rear view mirror as he pulled into the drive that would deliver them to the emergency room entrance.

Hank had one hand holding the afterbirth high enough that it wouldn't drain blood away from his newborn, his other hand rested on top of his wife's hands as she help the infant on her stomach. "Michelle Elise," Emily offered for her husband's approval.

Hank twisted his head to try and get a better look and the tiny little girl in his wife's arms, "We'll end up calling her Shelly," Hank thought out loud.

"I can live with that," Emily responded.

Hank just smiled at her, "Michelle Elise it is then, I'm sure John and Elise will be honored."

The police officer pulled up to the emergency doors and got out informing three hospital personnel standing in the door way that they had a new born in the back seat that needed a little attention.

Two of the staff members ran for a gurney the nurse ran for a doctor and before Hank knew it Dr. Morton was pulling the back door of the car open and climbing in to evaluate the patients.

"I need umbilical clamps stat," Dr. Morton called out and the nurse ran, before Dr. Morton had checked a pulse and listened to the lungs of both mother and child the nurse was back and Dr. Morton made quick work of clamping and cutting the cord before handing the afterbirth to a nearby orderly before carefully taking the baby in his arm.

"Well officer, it looks like you did a good job here." Dr. Morton offered. As of yet he hadn't even looked at Hank or acknowledged he was there.

"I can't take credit for this one, Poppa there did the honors." The police officer corrected. "Says he's a fire captain and had as much training as I do so I just assisted."

Dr. Morton looked over his shoulder as he handed the baby off to the nurse before Hank stepped to his side and picked up his wife, moving her to the available gurney. "DO I know you?"

"Captain Stanley, station 51" Hank responded before following his wife and child in the door.

Both mother and child were checked over and the first feeding given before both were sent to the maternity ward where Emily was aided to take a shower before being tucked into bed and Hank was allowed the customary privilege of giving his new born daughter her first bath.

Her first diaper was applied, her first t-shirt snapped around her shoulders and a pink bow was attached to her dark hair with a dab of KY jelly. Then little Michelle Elise was placed in a tiny clear cradle in the intermediate nursery to rest and be watched. She was placed in the intermediate nursery because she had been born in what was called a hostile environment where she may have picked up some infection. They had to be careful not to let any possible pathogen spread to any other baby so his daughter would be separated from the rest.

When Hank pulled off his surgical cover and backed out of the nursery he turned around and to see John Gage pacing back and forth in front of the Neonatal intensive Care unit.

As he paced he mumbled and Hank placed both hands on his shoulders to stop him and get John to look at him.

"I'm guessing yours is in here right," Hank asked with a smile but one look at John and he knew something was wrong.

"Yeah, it was a little boy, four pounds something," Johnny rattled off with a distracted tone to his voice. "Elise got in trouble, couldn't breathe, had a seizure, a bad, bad seizure, they had to take the baby." Johnny finally looked up at his captain, his face totally consumed in fear, "She's still in a coma, doctors aren't sure yet what happened but think it might have been toxemia that her body couldn't handle. I can't lose her Cap, what am I going to do if I lose her?"

John then collapsed into Hanks arms and cried uncontrollably.

Hank held on and let him get it out of his system.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

Hank finally managed to get John to sit down, on a bench outside the neonatal ICU, and he was responding to him a little better. There were no coffee machines around or Hank would have got him a cup, they would have to work through this without caffeine.

"Sorry Cap, man I can't believe I fell apart like that. Who called you to come in?" John asked as he wrung his hands together.

"NO one called me in, I just stepped out of the intermediate Nursery," Hank smiled.

John looked at him with total confusion then his eyes opened in understanding. "Your baby?" he pointed to the nursery window.

"Yeah," Hank confirmed.

"Were there problems?" John questioned why the intermediate nursery.

"Only that we didn't make it to the hospital in time." Hank smiled again, when he thought of delivering his own child he still felt giddy.

"You didn't? Who? YOU!" John recognized the sheepish look on his captain's face finally.

"Guess I leaned a few things watching you and Roy all these years." Hank replied, "That and this wasn't Em and I's first time around."

"Did you get the little girl you were hoping for?"

"Yeah," Hank smiled then looked at his charge once again. "So tell me what happened on your end."

"I was really beat cap, after the last shift, we all were, When I got home Marco's sister was there with Elise and her kids were just playing, you know how little kids are. They had toy planes and were flying them around the bay making all kinds of noises. When I took report, Elise's blood pressure was a little high but not as bad as it had been. I figured it was because of all the noise the kids were making. The doctor had been telling us to just put her to bed and see if that would bring it down first. She lay next to me while I slept but everything seemed alright when she woke me up for dinner. Her blood pressure was where it should have been. The place where they did the amniocentesis was hurting her but everything seemed to be fine. So we fed the horses then watched a movie on TV together and ate popcorn then went to bed. I was still tired so I went right to sleep. Elise woke me about midnight saying something wasn't right and then she started getting these pains in her chest. I think about it now it was like she had blood clots go to her lungs or something like that. I called for a squad and she told me that her chest was tight. I just did what I could until the engine arrived with the oxygen, and then when the squad got there she went in to a seizure. The worse seizure I've ever seen her have, even before she had the brain surgery.

"Dr. Early ordered a paralytic and an airway then grab and go. They put me up front and all I could do was watch as they worked on her the whole way in. They took her straight to surgery as soon as they got here. I barely got the papers signed and up to the waiting room when a nurse was there to tell me I had a son and that they needed me to go with her to NICU they needed to make sure I had a bracelet to identify me as the baby's father, and to sign some more papers so they could give the baby his first immunizations. They said they thought he was going to be okay he just needs to be watched close until all the medications they had to give Elise work out of his system. Elise is in ICU they say she's still in a coma but that her blood pressure is coming down and their still doing tests to figure out everything that went wrong. They don't know what to tell me yet."

Hank sat with John and rubbed his back for a while longer as the two sat in silence. John did get up and walk over to look in the window and smiled when he saw the little cradle with the name Stanley on it. "She's a cutie," John remarked.

Hank did take a break to go to a phone and call home. It took four rings but his daughter finally answered the phone. "Hay there big sister," Hank responded to the sleepy voice that finally answered.

"Dad? You mean it's here? I didn't even know you left. What is it? Is Mom alright?"

"What's going on?" His oldest son's voice was heard in the back ground.

"Mom's had the baby!" Kristen exclaimed as Hank just held the phone and enjoyed every sound coming out of it.

When things calmed down, and Hank was sure all four of his children were awake on the other end, Hank announced that they now had a little sister and their mother was fine. Since the oldest Son was old enough to drive he was given permission to bring them all in to see their new baby sister but not before he was told three times to, 'drive carefully and follow the speed limit'.

The siblings' arrival was just in time for the 5 a.m. feeding, they oohed and awed at the tiny girl that was mostly awake and would wrap her tiny hands around their fingers that they placed in her tiny little hands. They made a few other noises when she filled her diaper. Hank dutifully changed the messy device to set an example for his boys then they were each given a chance to hold her. For the two youngest boys it was the first time they had held an infant and they both found their father helping them a lot, keeping his hands on the baby at all times.

-0-

Roy was surprised to hear the alarm go off. He shut it off and rolled over to look at his wife. She was still asleep with extra pillows packed around her to make her comfortable. After watching her sleep for just a moment Roy sighed in resignation then got out of bed to get ready for work.

By the time Roy was showered and dressed JoAnne was in the kitchen fixing his breakfast.

"Well," Roy sighed as he put his arms around his wife. "I was thinking I was going to get today off there for a while last night."

"Sorry," JoAnne hung her head and rubbed at her aching back. "I'm tired of being pregnant."

"Sorry, but we all know these little ones come when they want to not when we want them to," Roy smiled at his wife before giving her a peck of the lips.

"Well," Roy sighed again, "If anything happens, you-"

"Know to call the station and then headquarters if you're not there." JoAnne finished the sentence for him, "My sister will be here around ten, she's going to spend the afternoon and then take the kids for the weekend. I sure hope this one makes its appearance before they come back and I have to come up with another plan."

"So that means you'll be alone tonight?" Roy didn't think he liked that idea.

"Madge is just next door and she's already agreed to check on me and had her car gassed up and ready to go." JoAnne smiled at her worrying husband.

"Call me after your appointment today and let me know what the doctor says." Roy gave his wife another kiss and then headed off to work.

Roy arrived at the station and the first thing he noticed was the antique thunderbird he knew the semi retired Captain Denison drove. "Well Cap, it looks like you succeeded where we're still waiting," Roy said to himself with a shake of his head as he moved into the building and quickly changed into his uniform.

Marco was just coming through the locker room door when someone hollered "Lopez telephone."

He stuck his head back in the locker room door just a moment later, "Roy, do you know anything about Gage. My Mom's at his house and no one's there."

Roy took in a deep breath and shook his head. If no one was at Johnny's place that was probably not good.

The men were just lining up for roll call when Captain Denison walked in with Captain Stanley behind him wearing his street clothes. The boxes of bubble gum cigars in his hands bringing a grin to the faces of every one of his men.

"Before we get down to business someone has an announcement to make," Captain Denison commented with a grin as he looked over at Hank giving him the floor.

"I'm sure by now you've all guessed that there is a new arrival to the Stanley family." Hank started, "Little Michelle Elise Stanley, made her grand appearance in the back seat of my wife's Edsel in stopped traffic at 12:15 this morning, just two blocks from Rampart."

The bay echoed with laughter and whoops at the news as Hank held up the box of pink bubble gum cigars

"Roy when it's your turn if your wife even suggest that you finish the board game your playing before you leave the house just tell her no and get out of there." Hank offered his only explanation. And then everyone noticed his face sobering as he toyed with the second box of bubble gum cigars.

With all eyes on him Hank swallowed hard, "Baby Boy Gage, made his arrival around 2. A.m. this morning by means of an emergency C Section."

"A boy!" Chet rang out in high pitched laughter that echoed from the rafters, "Boy is he going to look cute in all those frilly little dresses Gage has been buying."

Chet's laughter halted quickly when he realized he was the only one laughing.

"The Baby is in the Neonatal ICU, he weighs in at a little over four pounds but his lungs seem okay and they expect him to be alright once all the medications they had to give Elise are worked out of his system." Hank swallowed hard and took another breath, "Elise however had a really hard time of it, they suspect there was a couple of fat embolisms that made it to her lung and they're pretty sure she had a rapid onset eclampsia in addition to everything else. That is of course why they did the immediate C Section, she is currently in ICU, and she's still in a coma, the doctors are still doing tests and not able to make any kind of prognosis at this point.

"Under normal circumstances I would probably be on shift with the rest of you this morning but as you can imagine John is having a hard time and could really use some moral support right now, and well, since I have the time coming and had set things in place to be covered, I'm going to hang close to him until Elise's Aunt and Uncle get here sometime tomorrow."

The men were all hanging their heads in understanding for their other shift mate when Hank spoke again. "Roy would you happen to know if John has some clothes in his locker, He's currently running around the hospital in his pajamas and slippers."

"Yeah, I think so," Roy answered somberly before Captain Denison gave him the go ahead nod to go get them.

Hank accepted the clothes from John's locker and handed the boxes of cigars over to Captain Denison to distribute later, then without preamble he returned to the hospital and John's side.

Roll Call was completed then Roy and Marco raced for the phone. Marco actually managed to arrive first and called his mother to give her the news. He spoke in Spanish the entire conversation but kept it short then handed the phone over to Roy. Marco then retreated into a quiet corner of the dorm where he offered up a prayer for his friend and his wife.

Roy called home but after ten rings there was no answer, he was starting to get worried when he looked at his watch and realized JoAnne must be on the way to her doctor's appointment by now. He would have to wait for her to call him with a report on her doctor's visit.

Hank returned to the hospital and sent John to a shower to clean up and change. While he was doing so Hank checked in with his wife and found her sleeping so he hurried back to John.

"Thanks Cap, you don't need to stay with me, I know you'd much rather be with your wife and daughter." John rolled up his pajamas and robe stuffing them in the back that the nurse had given him.

"I just checked on them, they're both asleep," Hank assured his friend in need, "One thing you learn is to let them sleep when they will."

"Isn't the other half of that statement, something about sleeping when they do?" John questioned, he was grateful for his captain's companionship but he was also feeling a bit of a burden.

"I don't think I could sleep right now if I tried," Hank talked, "too excited."

John just smiled; he didn't believe a word his captain said.

Hank managed to pull John over to a bench again and set him down. "So John, tell me about your son," Hank tried to get him talking about something positive.

"What do you want to know," John was totally clueless; he'd already told him the weight, what else was there to know.

"What does he look like? Whose eyes does he have? Does he have any hair?" Hank listed a few things to get John started.

"Well, um, I a, haven't really seen him yet." John revealed. "When they drug me here for paperwork and this bracelet thingy," John raised his hand to show off his identification bracelet, "They were working on him, he needed an IV to help flush out all the drugs they had to give Elise and to be put on oxygen," John shrugged his shoulders. "They came out a while ago and told me I could go in and hold him but, I don't know, I don't know if I'm ready for that." "All I can think about is Elise right now."

While Hank thought for a moment trying to decide what move to make next John started to talk again. "You know just before Elise went into a seizure she asked me if I could love the baby if she didn't make it." Tears started to flow down his face, "She wanted to make sure I wouldn't blame the baby if she were to die."

Hank wrapped an arm around John's shoulder and pulled him close but he knew what his next move needed to be. Pulling John to his feet he led him to the door of the ICU nursery where his son was being cared for and gave a knock on the door. The nurse who responded was well aware of what was going on with John and Elise as well as the baby. It wasn't hard for Hank to convince her to let him gown up along with John and stand at his side as he met his son for the first time.

The nurse stood by as Hank helped John into his cover gown and hair cover, Hank tied the back of the gown while John worked to get the elastic of his face mask over his hair cover. The nurse then helped Hank tie his gown before directing them in hand washing. She then led the two men to the incubator where one tiny little boy lay quietly, His eyes were open but unfocused, there was a meter taped to his foot and an IV taped down to his little arm, another was threaded in where the umbilical cord had been cut. I tiny nasal cannula was taped to his face to keep it in place. A special little bag was attached over his tiny boy parts to collect the urine as it flowed. There were no clothes on him not even a diaper at this point. It was a bit of a shock to see.

"He's got your hair," Hank started pointing out things beyond the medical interventions. "I think his ears and eyes look more like Elise though."

"He's starting to wake up a little it would be good for him if you'd touch him and let him hear your voice. If you'd like you can hold him a little and try to get him to eat something." The nurse at their side encouraged, she then went for a receiving blanket to wrap him up in.

Hank watched John, his hands and face were trembling, his eyes filling with tears again. "John what did you tell Elise,"

"Huh," John looked up at him cluelessly.

"When she asked you if you could love the baby what did you tell her?" Hank pushed.

"I, I a, I told her, I told her that I didn't want to lose her and to stop talking like that but, but then I knew she needed and answer, I told her that I didn't think I could take care of the baby without her but that I'd do my best. I told her that the baby would be a part of her that I could continue to hold and love." John could say no more his voice totally consumed in his emotions.

Once the nurse had the small boy wrapped in a blanket and his tubes clipped to the blanket so they wouldn't pull loose, it was Hank that took the tiny baby in his arms and then guided John to use the training he already had to take a hold of the baby in his. When John's arms were both wrapped around the tiny child Hank pulled the new father to a nearby rocking chair and helped him to sit. It was Hanks hands on the back of the chair that started the rocking but John did manage to keep it in motion when he stopped.

The nurse moved in with a pillow to place under the baby and John's arms she then handed him a little baby bottle full of formula.

When the baby didn't latch on to the bottle immediately it was Hank that coached John to start at the corner of his mouth and slip it in that way. Even with the nipple in his mouth the infant made no attempt to suck at first.

"Now come on there," John started to talk softly, "Your momma needs you to be a big boy right now and eat all of your dinner. Your momma needs you to grow big and strong so you can give her a tight hug and tell her that you love her."

The nurse coached John to rub his chin with his finger and the little guy started to suck on the bottle for the first time.

"Your Momma loves you more than anything else in the whole world," John continued, "and you and I are going to be the best of friends, there's a pony at home for you to ride as soon as you're big enough, and somehow I'm sure you'll think of all kinds of things we can do together."

A tear splashed on the tiny face startling the infant but he didn't cry, he just stopped sucking on the nipple for a moment.

"Sorry about that," John apologized as he wiped the moisture away with his finger and reoffered the bottle. "I love you too son, One of these days we're going to have a long talk about everything that's going on right now, but right now you just need to eat your num nums and grown nice and big in case your momma needs you to help her wake up."


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

The nurse informed John that his son needed to go back to the incubator as she gently lifted the infant from his arms. John just sat there and watched her take the blanket off and wipe his little bum before placing him back in the warm artificial environment. His legs jerked a little but he was otherwise still, too still John knew but he'd been assured it was only temporary. The baby had only eaten a little over an ounce of formula, but the nurse assured him that was good under the circumstances. Reminding the brand new father just how tiny his son's little tummy was. He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder as he turned his attention to Hank who was still at his side.

"Thank you," Was all John could manage to say. When John was led from the nursery he went straight to ICU, he now had something new to talk with Elise about, something new he hoped would bring her back to him.

-0-

It was just after lunch when JoAnne called to tell her husband what the doctor had said. She'd been disappointed and depressed and chose to throw herself a pity party and stopped at one drive in to get an order of her most current craving, Fish and Chips with extra tartar sauce, before driving down the street to get her favorite milkshake to go with it. She had finally gotten home and was fixing lunch for her sister and children as she talked to Roy on the phone.

"The doctor said that I'm thinning out nicely and have dilated to a three but that's all," JoAnne reported, "He said if I was still pregnant next week he'll consider inducing labor."

Roy listened to his wife, whose voice was as glum as the day was long. He then gave her the news he'd been holding for her. It was no surprised that news of Emily giving birth was received with mixed emotions. The prevailing emotion just had to be jealousy but she was happy for her friend. She had to laugh when she was told they didn't make it to the hospital in time and Hank had had to deliver the baby in the back seat of her car. Still all was well and Emily was holding her baby and JoAnne was still uncomfortably and miserably pregnant.

When Roy followed with the news of John and Elise JoAnne gasped, it wasn't fair, those two had been through enough couldn't something go right for them for a change?

Totally stunned JoAnne had to sit down on a chair and catch her breath.

"How's John holding out?" She asked with gasping breath.

"I've been at the hospital twice, the first time I checked on him he was in the Neonatal ICU with his son, Cap was with him but he was turned away from me in a rocking chair holding the baby, He never saw me. The second time he was in ICU with Elise, we got toned out to a fire before I could get in to see him. When Cap gave us the news this morning he said he was having a hard time with everything." Roy answered.

"Oh man," JoAnne gasped as she let the news seep in.

Suddenly JoAnne no longer had any desire for the plans she had to spend the afternoon with her sister.

After a brief discussion, her sister was sent on her way with the children for a fun filled weekend and JoAnne headed for the hospital to visit with and support her friends.

-0-

"Elise, please wake up, I need you, our son needs you, he has your ears and your eyes." Johnny continued to ramble as he sat at Elise's bed side and massaged her hand in both of his. "We both need you, please come back to us." His tears were flowing freely as his wife lay totally unresponsive, she wasn't even responding to pain stimuli for the last hour.

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and another on his back, After sniffing some of the tears back John finally turned around to see Roy standing there in his uniform. Nothing was said between friends as Roy kneaded the muscles in John's shoulders and upper back. After a few moments Roy was able to pull John to his feet and give him a friend to lean on as together they moved out into the waiting room.

"What are the doctors saying?" Roy asked as he continued to rub John's back.

There was no answer for a moment as Roy reached for a box of tissues handing it to John. Johnny blew his nose and wiped his face then turned to Roy. "They, they're still waiting for some test results, they're going to take her down for a brain scan in an hour or so."

"All the meds should have worn of hours ago Roy," John nearly screamed in desperation and despair.

"You just have to hang in there partner," Roy encouraged, "How's your baby doing?"

"He's, He's coming around," John answered, "Waking up more and more, his digestive system is started to kick in, they finally had to put a diaper on him."

"That's good," Roy continued to rub John's back.

"What am I going to do Roy? I can't take care of a baby all by myself." John looked at his friend with pleading eyes his despair complete.

"Now wait just one minute there," Roy spoke just stern enough to hold John's attention, "You're not alone yet, you said yourself that doctors are still waiting for test results. This is not the time to give up, What you need right now is a little hope, hope for you, hope for Elise and hope for that little baby who is going to need his father."

"He needs Elise too," John countered.

"Your right he does, but never forget, no matter what happens, you're not alone." Roy grabbed a solid hold on John's shoulder and gave a good shake, "You've got friends and family, you're not alone, you'll never be alone."

John managed a few sobbing breaths before turning to his friend and partner. "I guess I should learn how to change diapers, shouldn't I."

"I have a hunch there are a few people around here who can help you with that." A surprise voice came from behind as Roy looked over the top of John's head to see Captain Stanley pushing a wheelchair with his wife in it and JoAnne standing beside them.

The group visited until Roy had to return to work, when Elise was taken for her brain scan, JoAnne took Emily back to her room, while Hank took Johnny back to the NICU for his son's next feeding. This time the baby seemed to lock eyes with Johnny studying him as he sucked from the bottle; he even took hold of Johnny's pinky finger as if he were afraid his bottle might be taken away before he was ready.

Johnny was growing tired now and found he had very little to say to his infant son as he held and rocked him. When the nurse took the child back to place him in the incubator he cried. It was the first time Johnny had heard his son cry and it brought tears to his eyes.

It was about time for school to let out so Hank needed to leave the hospital for a few hours to tend to his other children. Emily was ready for a little nap so JoAnne stuck by John's side as he returned to ICU.

The first thing he noticed was some new IV bottles hanging over Elise's bed. John didn't recognize the name of the drug that was listed on the bag of fluid but he still sighed with hope that they had found something they could treat.

John sat down next to the bed and took Elise's hand in one of his as he reached up and stroked the side of her face with his other hand. Elise turned her head into John's hand.

That was all, she moved her head into John's gentle touch, but at that moment that subtle move was huge.

John talked anew to Elise, telling her through his tears about their son, and his need for her, their need for her to come back to them. As he talked JoAnne sat at his side and rubbed his back.

When JoAnne shifted in her chair for the umpteenth time in an attempt to get comfortable John finally took notice. "You should go home where you can rest and get comfortable," John suggested.

"Trust me, I won't be any more comfortable at home, at least here I feel like I'm doing something." JoAnne insisted as she continued to rub John's back.

Hank returned to the hospital toward the end of visiting hours. While his older children spent some time talking with their mother and looking at the now sleeping baby sister, Hank slipped into ICU to check on John.

When JoAnne saw him in the doorway she stood up to offer him her chair. True it was out of character for a woman to do such a thing but she really needed to stretch. Or at least she thought she did.

Once she got to her feet there was a sudden sound of spilling water and when they looked to the source they all saw a small puddle at JoAnne's feet.

As John moved his eyes back to JoAnne's face he realized that her silent discomfort at his side had been labor pains, the guilt flooded him instantly. As he began to pull his hand away from Elise to see to JoAnne he felt her hand tighten around his. John's full attention was back on his wife.

"It's alright Elise, I just need to go for a minute, I'll be right back." John spoke close to her ear as tears flowed freely down his face. Elise had just squoose his hand.

John turned back to JoAnne to help her but Cap was pushing a wheelchair into the room, "I got it John, see to your wife."

Hank helped JoAnne into the wheelchair and lifted her feet on to the foot rests before taking control of the handles and pushing her out of the room as someone from housekeeping moved in with a mop to clean the floor behind them.

-0-

Roy and Jackson, Roy's temporary partner, returned to the station around 8:30 that evening, they had just been called out to cover another station across the valley that had been called out to cover another station even farther away. They had been so far out of their response area that they had been working with Harbor General instead of Rampart. As the squad was backed into its home bay Roy was wishing for a call, nothing real serious just some simple case of heart burn that they needed to haul in to Rampart just to make sure it wasn't a heart attack. Okay he really just wanted a reason to go to Rampart and check on his friend and his wife.

Roy exhaustedly rolled out of the squad and headed for the coffee pot when he recognized Carlson sitting at the table wearing his uniform.

"HI Carlson, what brings you in tonight?" Roy's first thought was that one of the guys had gotten injured while they were covering the other station.

"He's here for you," Captain Denison responded. "Captain Stanley called from the hospital a while ago, seems your presence has been requested in Labor and Delivery."

It took a stunned moment for Roy to understand just what was being said, "My wife?"

"Yep," Chet slapped his back. "Looks like all three of the station 51 babies are trying for the same birthday."

"Just what are the odds of that happing," Marco added his smile.

"Everyone's going to call them the station 51 triplets," Mike added while shaking his head in wonder.

"DeSoto," Captain Denison called, "Don't you think you better get on over to the hospital."

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Roy started turning in circles trying to decide what he should do first.

"Do you know where your car keys are?" Captain Denison asked with a grin on his face.

"Yeah," Roy reached into his pocket pulling them out.

"Do you need someone to drive you?"

"No, no, I guess I better get over there." Roy patted himself down trying to think of something else he forgot as his temporary Captain took him by the shoulders and guided him to his car.

"I guess I'll have to get her suitcase and take it to the hospital later." Roy commented as he slipped into his car and placed the key in the ignition.

"Just be sure you drive carefully," Captain Denison admonished, "This is one of those moments in your life that you don't want to miss."

Roy paused and took a deep calming breath, "You're right cap, you're right."

He then calmly backed out of his parking spot and pulled around the station.

Roy arrived in time to coach JoAnne with her breathing through several hours of labor. Then finally at 11:57 p.m. a screaming bundle was lain across JoAnne's stomach while the cord was cut. Father and mother examined every inch, counted ten toes and ten fingers, once the cord was severed; an exhausted JoAnne pulled the bundle in her arms and declared, "John Michael DeSoto."

They had talked about not using the name John since Johnny was going to have his own child but JoAnne was too exhausted to remember that at the moment. Roy gave the newborn a good look and had to admit, the name seemed to almost be written across his face.

When Roy was given the chance to hold his son he looked down into his face, "Well son you cut that pretty close there. You almost missed your birthday."

The medical staff agreed to give Roy a moment before he gave his son his first bath, together he and Hank, who had been pacing the hall watching the clock and his watch as if it were his child being delivered, ran up to ICU to share the news with John.

When they walked into Elise's room they had to stop and catch their breath. John was crying, tears flowing down his face unchecked, as he and Elise were locked in each other's eyes. Elise had regained consciousness she had on hand on her surgery tender stomach and her other hanging on to John's hand as for dear life.

"When can I see him?" she had just said and everyone including the two doctors who were in the room with smiles on their faces knew she was talking about her son.


	34. Chapter 34

Author's note: I really hadn't made up my mind how I was going to end this story, I was leaning toward a couple of different angles either a first year birthday party or another lengthy sequel. It was several reviews that led to this ending but none more inspiring that the pleading reply from one in particular.

It's taken several rewrites and a lot of minor alterations but here it is. Robert this is for you I hope it meets with your approval. Thank you everyone for your reviews and comments.

**Chapter 34**

It was another five days before an incubator was rolled into ICU so that Elise could finally hold her infant son. Elise had picked up an infection and it took that long before it was safe for her to see her child.

Dixie willingly went shopping with Johnny to help pick out some little boy clothes, they were able to find some cute outfits for John Michael DeSoto. All the little dresses John had bought in preparation of becoming a father were given to Michelle Elise Stanley along with a savings bond for each.

Getting clothes for Johnny's son would need to wait, first of all his needs were being met at long as he was in the hospital, it would be a long time before he needed much more than a diaper. Second finding clothes small enough for him was impossible.

Coming up with a name for the child was almost as difficult. This was clearly the only child they would be able to have. There were so many names they wanted to consider, people who were positive role models and wonderful friends. At one point the parents thought they'd made a decision but the space on the form for the birth certificate for wasn't large enough to write, John Roy Henry Michael Chester Marco Milton Brandon Gage. They also had to admit it was all slightly ridiculous once they saw it in writing.

Four weeks later the doctors decided to keep the baby two more nights so that he could go home with his mother. The decorations for Mike and Brenda's wedding had been left in place for the occasion and a small convoy made the trip from Rampart to Home station to help settle the new family in. Elise was so terrified of having a seizure and dropping the baby that she never held him in her arms except when she was sitting down. To move from room to room she always used a buggy, and she would never bathe him in the tub unless someone else was with her. When John was on duty the baby got a sponge bath.

For years to come three families were linked by an extra close friendship that would never die and three children that shared the same birthday. Most birthdays were spent with the three families together. The dates were often shifted a day or two to accommodate the different work shifts but they usually worked things out to get together. There was the year two of the three had the chicken pox. They kept the parties that year solo but to no avail, the third one came down with them 13 days later.

Most of the time they gathered at home station, where there were ponies to ride and fields to play in, and a fishing pond, not to mention that huge family room. There was the year Emily was fighting with cancer and was so weak the party was brought to their house. And then the year John Michael broke his leg playing football and was in the hospital. They took the party to him there, much to the dismay of the hospital staff.

Then before any of the parents were ready for it, twenty one years had passed by and their children were no longer children. For Roy and Hank and their wives it was their babies that were leaving the nest, for John and Elise it was their first born striking out on his own.

John and Elise chose never to take a chance on losing Elise to a pregnancy again, but they were approved as foster parents for children of Native American decent, and proved to be a safe haven for many children of mixed heritage that went through the system. Over the years there were 68 such children who spent time in their home, four of them, three girls and a boy, stayed and added the name Gage when adoption was granted.

As fate would have it the day of the 51's triplets 21st birthdays was preceded by a graduation day and would be proceeded by a wedding. It was going to be a weeklong affair with the field behind home station filled with campers since the guest rooms were now filled with children. All of the original crew was represented for this grand occasion along with several of Elise's extended family.

The group of six parents arrived first at the auditorium where the graduation ceremony was to be held and as they staked out sufficient seating for all that were yet to come they talked amongst themselves.

"I can't believe we're doing this," Roy shook his head as he draped his coat over one end chair to mark it as taken. "How is it that we didn't convince them to get into safer careers where they could make more money?"

"In our case, Shelly is definitely her father's daughter," Emily offered up.

"More like she's taking after her namesake, there has been no stopping her since that Indian Chief honored Elise six years ago for all she had done to improve life on their reservation," Hank corrected.

"Don't put this all on me," Elise countered, "You've all served your people in a way to make your children see you as the heroes that you are. They're all their fathers' children."

"And his mother's son," John added as he took Elise into his arms. He had never forgotten that he came close to losing her on several occasions and still never let a day go by without holding her in his arms and telling her how much he loved her. She still had seizures from time to time but often went for months in between.

Elise had gone to school to add a degree in psychology and worked part time helping disabled firemen and police officers move on with their lives. Her disability plan would only allow her to work part time without losing her benefits but she used the rest of her time well, along with her talent in real estate to take unwanted land and condemned buildings and turn them into housing developments, schools and business centers. Elise also started a program where any seats left vacant in Paramedic and firefighting classes were filled with students from outlying areas. Many of those students would go on to be the only trained person in their oversized response area. But that too was changing as other departments across the United States adopted Elise's plan.

Twenty minutes before the ceremony was about to begin the expected guests began to arrive. Most of the original crew from Station 51 were going to be there.

Chester B. Kelly had been lost to them in a fire when a wall collapsed, He had finally managed to pass his engineers exam and was driving the engine under the command of Captain Michael Stoker. They had been last in on a warehouse fire and were assigned to work hoses. Chet heard the wall going and shoved his shoulder into the back of the rookie he was working hose with. Though the Rookie lived to fight another fire, Chet left behind a wife of four years and a three year old son.

His wife took their son and moved to Chicago to be near family but she was killed six years later when a gunman was being wrestled to the ground in a bank robbery and the gun went off. Chester Bradford Kelly Jr. lived with his paternal grandmother until he was thirteen. When she suffered a stroke and could no longer care for the boy she contacted Chet's favorite Captain for help. Hank and Emily didn't think twice before they took the boy in and raised him as their own. When Emily endured a bout with cancer and was laid up in bed with Chemo, social services stepped in and Chet Jr. moved in with the Stokers. Both made every effort to let the young Chet know he was wanted and stayed close to each other. Both former captains made sure the young man heard every story they could tell of his father and what a wonderful man he was. He was there today to represent his father and as the original crew looked the soon to be 18 year old over they had to wonder what his mother had added to the gene pool. He was a young clone of his father.

Marco had moved on in the department and went on to become the fire Chaplin for the northern part of the county. The toughest job in the department but he put his heart and soul into it. He was being given the privilege of performing the marriage ceremony that would happen in two days.

Chief Henry Stanley had opted for retirement when Emily went through Chemotherapy. He had learned from John and Elise's early example and chose to make the most of whatever time they had together. She was in remission now and for that they were grateful. Still, they knew all too well that there were no guarantees for tomorrow. In the weeks to come they were planning to do some traveling and see the places Emily had always wanted to go.

Mike Stoker spent nine years as a Captain before a heart attack side lined him. He spent a few years with Fire Marshalls office investigating Arson cases but a second attack prompted him to take a medical retirement. He was now mostly a stay at home dad while his wife worked, though he had written a couple of books and was dabbling in real estate. All in all, he missed the action but he was doing rather well for himself.

Roy DeSoto and John Gage had made Captain's together both being assigned to new stations close to home station. Five years later John opted to transfer to the paramedic academy as an instructor. He liked the work but most of all he liked being home every night with his family. Roy followed him four years later working out of a different hospital. They would go months without seeing each other and then get together and talk for days at a time to catch up.

Everyone grinned from ear to ear as Brandon walked down the aisle toward the saved seats. Joanie walked about six feet ahead of him and he followed without a cane or any other walking implement and carrying not one but two of his grandchildren on his back. He was still a little hard to understand when he was tired or talking in a hurry but Brandon had made improvements beyond what medical science had ever hoped for. He now worked as an in home therapist with other brain injury patients in his area.

John, Brandon's son, followed along on crutches. He had been injured when the roof collapsed on him in a fire. He was now the Area fire chief in a semi-volunteer fire department program of twenty stations covering most of the north eastern section of Montana. He was also one of three paramedics in the area filled with EMT's and working hard to expand the ranks. Jacob was still home running the program while John was on injured reserve. John was keeping his eyes out for any graduates he thought he might be able to recruit to his area.

Vanessa and Patricia would slip in at the last second. Patricia's husband had indeed found it difficult to get work after the incident where he over medicated Elise. He ended up going to the state prison to work in the infirmary there. He started out commuting from home, working four twelve hour days on and four off but eventually started picking up extra shifts and not coming home, the distance apart was all it took to finish off he and Patricia's troubled marriage and they divorced three years later. There was a rumor that he had picked up AIDS from some of the prisoners there but Patricia wasn't sure she wanted to find out for sure.

Rachel had been killed in a warehouse explosion two years ago. It was suspected that one of the mobsters who were trying to extort something from her estranged husband had something to do with it but there wasn't enough proof. No one knew where Tom was now or even if he were still alive. No one was really trying to find out either.

Cody and Tobes were there as Rachel's representatives. They had both grown up to be fine young adults. Cody had just finished her four year nursing degree and was going for a Nurse practitioner license with intentions of going back to the reservation to help her people. Tobes only had one year left to get his law degree; he also hoped to help his people but would have to get some experience in the profession elsewhere first. Elise had made sure their college tuition was taken care of and they both held jobs to meet their other needs.

They were both excited to see Dr. Morton, with his now graying temples. They had to explain where they'd met him, he had forgotten all about the anti bigotry treatment he'd given along with the treatment for their ear infections, before they proceeded to tell him of the profound difference the time he spent with them had made in their lives. All three of them had tears in their eyes when the talking was done.

When the graduates started filling in on the stage and John and Roy replaced their coats and took their places with the instructors. The semi-retired Dr. Kelly Brackett was led to his prominent place on the stand where the commencement speaker was assigned. He had Dixie McCall hanging on his arm as he walked, a wedding ring on her hand that hadn't been there when, those that could, had attended Dr. Joseph Early's funeral six months ago.

Dr. Brackett talked about the beginnings of the paramedic program and many of the changes that had taken place throughout the years. He once again apologized for being one of the main opponents against the program when it was first proposed and once again told how grateful he still was, to a couple of strong willed and head strong Paramedics that changed his mind.

"This is part of the second generation of Paramedics we are about to graduate today. The program has changed dramatically since its inception, the paramedics of today do more with less supervision, and save more lives than ever before. There are a hundred and forty six of you on this stand today. You will be sent along with your training to seven different departments and branches of public service throughout the county. There's a world out there waiting for you to save them, some of them from their own stupidity and ignorance, but they still need saving and I have no doubt that save them you will, in spite of themselves. I'm indeed honored to have played a small part in the beginnings of this wonderful program."

Chief McConnike then stepped up to the podium, High Chief McConnike that is, "It is indeed my great privilege to be able to recommend each and every one of these men and women for the graduation they have each earned. There are however three of you," he turned to face the graduates, "that have stepped up in the face of extreme danger earning them the commendations I'm about to present."

The Chief took a moment to shuffle some papers on the podium before him before he began, "When I call your name please step to the right of this stand and remain standing until you've all been honored.

"Michelle Elise Stanley. On February 9th of this year a twenty-two car pileup occurred in the evening fog on the interstate. Miss Stanley was the passenger of one of those cars and in spite of being injured herself was instrumental in single handedly extricating nineteen students on a team bus, their Coach and driver just seconds before the gasoline tanker they had collided with exploded."

Hank stood in the audience showing respect to those being honored; he had known of the twenty-two car pileup, his daughter had called him to come pick her up at the hospital after her arm and caller bone had been set and casted. However, he had no prior knowledge of her actions at the scene, he only knew that once they reached the hospital her date for the evening had lain the blame on her for his car being totaled. Seems she wouldn't allow him to get to first base and demanded to be taken home. If things had gone his way they wouldn't have been near that accident when it happened let alone in it. As he listened to the tale being told he wondered how on earth she had been able to get all of those people off that bus with a broken arm and collar bone.

"John Michael DeSoto." Roy instantly stood at attention and gave his wife a surprised glance. "On March 23rd of this year, Mister DeSoto was visiting a friend at the college dorms at the University of California when a fire broke out in the dining hall. Mister DeSoto was quick to sound the alarm and evacuate the building getting all of the occupants to safety. But that is not what he is being commended for tonight. While standing outside of the burning building watching the first station in, there was an explosion leaving five firemen down inside the building. While the engineer called in for back up John DeSoto found the spare turn out coat and hat right where he knew it would be because his father was a fine fire captain and had given him many a tour of the fire station and its equipment over the years. Then as the Engineer covered him with a hose, John DeSoto managed to shoulder the first fireman and get him to safety before returning again and again until all five of the fallen firefighters were pulled from the blazing building before the next stations arrived with their equipment."

Roy had been made aware some time after the fact that his son had gotten a good case of smoke inhalation from that fire. Something he had been treated for by his nursing student girl friend. He had no idea of his involvement in rescuing the firemen who first responded. Roy wouldn't have even known his son had even been there if it hadn't of been that he got a bill for the ER visit and chest x-ray since he was still on his insurance plan.

"John Roderick Gage Jr." Chief McConnike watched the young man step forward, "ladies and Gentlemen you're going to love this one." McConnike smirked causing the young man to present the classic Gage crooked smile as he took his place next to his station siblings and locked his hands behind his back.

"On May 5th of this year, John Roderick Gage Jr. was among a group of men helping to gather a bunch of cows that had escaped from an overturned cattle truck when a station wagon loaded with kids tried to drive around all the mayhem and managed to overturn and roll into the river that was running high and fast with the rainy season flooding. Well young John Gage here put his heals to the horses side and chased off after the car, managing to lasso one of the tires and roll the car back over on its top before tying off the rope and then using it to get to and remove three of the five occupants of the car before back up arrived. The junior Gage here had to be rescued himself after hypothermia set in but without his efforts the family would likely have drown before other help could have arrived."

Unlike his former crewmates, John Sr. knew every last detail of his son's heroics. John Sr. himself had his hands full with a rather obstinate steer when he saw the car flip over into the river. He managed to loop his rope over a road side marker and grab some more ropes from the back of a truck before mounting his horse and following after his son.

He still remembered the pride in his heart as he watched from a short distance as his son managed to lasso the far front tire of the car on his first attempt. He watched as his son flew from his horse and tied the rope off on the guard rail and then watched as the current in the river pulled the car against the rope and the car began to roll over back on its wheels under the pull of the rope against the current. He watched as his son then threw a second loop over the rear bumper before he could get close enough to throw his loop over another tire giving them three ropes to hold the car in place until the people could be pulled from the interior that fortunately was still filled with air.

While John Sr. was tying off his rope to a large bolder between the river and the road, his son took hold of the rope and jumped into the water pulling himself along the rope til he reached the car. John Jr. was then able to instruct the adults in the car to roll down the window and the three children from the back seat ranging in age from eleven to six were handed out the window and John Jr. was able to carry them and pull himself closer to shore where someone was there to take them off his hands before he went back. John Sr. was there to take the first two off his hands and looked them over quickly. By the time his son had made the second trek to the shore a squad had arrived with the crow bar that was needed to get the door open so that the parents could be gotten out.

John Sr. had watched as hypothermia was taking hold of his son. He still felt guilt at allowing the others, who were closer and had on the proper harnesses to rescue his son and bring him to him.

John Sr. had quickly checked his son over before pulling his chilled body against him to use his own body heat to warm him before other rescue workers added some chemical hot packs and a blanket to his cold body.

When John Jr. was warm enough to shiver convulsively his father pulled back just enough to look him over again. "You are so like your mother." he commented before pulling him back tight against himself feeling sure he would be alright.

"She'll just tell me I'm just like my father," John Jr. spoke through chattering teeth in his father's ear. "Guess you could say I come by it honestly."

"Another interesting tidbit in life, all three of these brave souls have the same birthday and all three of their fathers worked at the same station on the same shift the day they were born." Chief McConnike added as the applause for the next generation heroes rang out. "There is no doubt in my mind that these three newly minted firefighting Paramedics, will be a great asset to the public service branches they are going to now serve."

The graduates spent the night out on the town while their parents and extended family gathered at home station to catch up and remember times gone by.

The next day was a triple birthday party and barbeque but most of it was spent decorating for the wedding of John Michael DeSoto and Elise Rena Woodshed. She was soooo looking forward to leaving that name behind.

John Michael and Elise had met each other when they both played for the same coed volleyball team. One thing lead to another and they really fell in love when Elise cared for him after he suffered from smoke inhalation. In truth he didn't suffer much at all.

When Home station was offered as a location to hold the wedding Elise's mother informed the couple that she had once been Elise Gage's nurse and had attended the wedding she and John had at the hospital just before she was released after brain surgery. John and Elise's birthdays were three weeks apart.

Elise's mother also told several in passing as they decorated, that two of her fellow nurses also had babies within a month of when she gave birth, one had a little girl she also named Elise and the other a little boy she named John.

The wedding the next afternoon went off without a hitch and the evening was spent dancing in the bay at home station. All the bedrooms had been locked to prevent a repeat of the first dance held there.

John Jr. was dancing with his mother when his father requested a song from the band and then stepped behind his son giving him a tap on the shoulder. "May I have this dance?"

John Jr. recognized the song starting and stepped aside as his father took his mother in his arms. He knew he'd never fully understand but the song 'Where do I Begin' had always been their song, it was clear that it was something special to them.

Looking around John Jr, noticed Shelly Stanley standing near the punch bowl and approached her.

"May I have this dance?" he asked with an outstretched hand.

Shelly smiled and took the offered hand as John Gage Jr. demonstrated that his father had taught him more than just how to lasso a car.

"If that young man is anything like his father," Hank Stanly spoke to his former Engineer at his side. "So Help me."

"Just what kind of help is it you're going to be wanting?" Chet Jr. questioned at his side. "Military, Police, Clergy, or the bullies from the corner bar?"

Hank and Mike looked at the young man at their side feeling like they had just been in a time warp and been sucked back to the days when they would listen to John Sr. and Chet Sr. banter back and forth at the station.

"Well, I don't know from personal experience," young Chet responded to the looks coming his way, "But I've heard the stories."

Is this the end or a Here we go again?


End file.
